Sword and Fire
by 1376
Summary: Shin'a'in Mage. And of course all rights to Mercedes Lackey. Hope you like it.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter one**

It began ordinarily enough. Taia shena Pretera'sedrin was born Shin'a'in on the Dhorisha Plains, a member of the Grass-Cat clan, third-born daughter to her mother after Brandi, her oldest sister by five years, and Kiri, her twin – born seven minutes prior. At first, the twin-birth seemed to be the only thing unusual in her situation – well, that and her eyes, a blue so deep they were almost violet instead of the typical Shin'a'in blue. Taia was followed in her family seven years later by yet another daughter, Andrien, which concluded their family. Her father died shortly after Andrien's conception in a border skirmish, while taking some geldings for sale at Kata'shin'a'in, and her mother took it particularly hard. Her grief was expressed in her adoption of the shaman's particularly conservative – even heretical, in contrast to most of the tribes – point of view. Things like the "place" of women, the roles they should or should not be allowed to take in society…the shaman was born of an outlander mother from a conservative land, and had adopted her views. He was attempting to translate them into Shin'a'in culture with alarming success. Particularly with Taia's mother. As for the rest of the clan, they were of the opinion that the clan was there before the arrival of this particular shaman and would be there after he went to the Goddess; so they were of a mind to wait him out.

Taia loved being Shin'a'in; she loved the freedom of the Plains, the community and identity of her people, their traditions and their lifestyle. She loved nothing more than racing her horse across the Plains, the sun on her back, the wind in her face; she loved to hunt, to provide a meal for her family and for herself. She loved it even in the summer, when the air was dry and the sun beat down and the heat was intense; she knew where all the water holes were, where every shade tree – and there weren't many on the Plains – stood. The Shin'a'in were sworn to their Goddess to guard the Plains, and the magical weapons it contained; the Plains themselves did half the work for them, by the simple fact that without this knowledge, most intruders would die of exposure and dehydration long before one of the Clan members ever even got to them. Also, the walls were a sheer cliffdrop down from the outside, and the trails down to the Plains themselves were only known to the Clanspeople. If an intruder was trying to get down those cliffs and were lucky enough to not fall to their death – the Plains were virtually unmarked. A perfect circle, it was difficult to know where a person was going if they didn't know the way; the unending, nearly featureless Plains could be hypnotic and disorienting. In the summer, a person could die of heatstroke; and in the winter, freeze. Taia loved the winters, too; spending evenings around a fire listening to her people sing, working on the weavings, painting new hides for new tents or decoration, she loved all of it.

She loved her weapons-training, as well, and she was quite talented at it. She showed particular talent at swordwork and archery, but could hold her own with any weapon and even hand-to-hand combat; she was something of a prodigy. Her only age-mate who could beat her was, oddly enough, her twin sister Kiri. She found the sword dances they taught as a warm-up and focus exercise to be particularly invigorating – she liked the feel of her muscles as she stretched, the flexibility of her joints and the exercise of her skill. She was small – lightly built, slender, with long wavy hair – jet black, like all Shin'a'in, of course; she didn't look like she could ever be a threat to anyone, and as a child she likely wouldn't be. But as she grew, she liked the idea that anyone threatening herself or her family would have a surprise. She liked knowing that she could contribute to the protection of her land, in the honoring of the promise her people had made to their Star Eyed Goddess.

She enjoyed singing and weaving as well, and while she wasn't considered good at them, she also wasn't considered to be without talent. She was beginning to learn the Shin'a'in art of silversmithing and how to make her own weapons. She had learned how to tan a hide – but it was a smelly process, and while she loved the result she saw no need to jump in to that particular chore, at least not while she could get away with skipping it. Shin'a'in life was all Taia ever wanted – the horses, the weapons training, the hunt – and the Goddess-appointed purpose of defense, without any real likelihood she would ever have to fight in an all-out battle for the Plains themselves, since no army had ever tried to invade. She spent her childhood progressing with her warrior training, riding and training her horse and just enjoying the life of the Clan – until she turned thirteen. Then it all changed.

As any mage or Gifted person in Velgarth could tell you, the onset of a Gift can be somewhat traumatic. When that onset involves several gifts all at once, and powerful ones, that trauma is multiplied. And when it also coincides with an increasingly heretical branch of a Shin'a'in tribe, and to the child of a mother at the heart of that heresy – it can be downright life threatening. Taia was the unfortunate recipient of all of this; she had the Mage Gift, and a particularly powerful one. She also was a powerful Empath, Mindspeaker, Farseer, and had a decent strength gift of Fetching as well as just enough Firestarting to light a candle and Healing enough to keep herself alive until someone with a real Healing Gift arrived. Of course, she didn't know that's what was happening, and the only member of the Clan who would recognize the signs – the shaman, the only member allowed to use magic, and only in the service of the Goddess – was not prepared to admit the truth. So Taia was subjected to the treatment of a Clan who believed her to be possessed, to be insane, or even just faking it.

She felt everything her Clanmembers felt as if it were her own emotion. She heard their thoughts as if they were her own. She saw things in faraway places she couldn't begin to understand, or know what they meant. She started pieces of straw on fire – it was lucky she didn't have a more powerful Firestarting gift, or she might have burned down the tent – and she had all the dishes and the furniture they did have flying around the tent, occasionally at people, which all by itself was terrifying – and not just for her Clansmen. Taia didn't think she was possessed, but she certainly believed it was a possibility; she definitely thought she was going insane. The one thing she was sure of was that she wasn't faking it.

She was confined to bed most days, delirious, in a drenching sweat, trying in vain to keep the thoughts and feelings of her tribe out of her head and often with the contents of her tent flying around in the air, unable to stop or control them. The tribe was terrified of her, and confined her to her own tiny tent, with minimal provisions – considering the possible effects of flying uncontrolled weaponry, this probably wasn't such a bad idea – and delivered food to her three times a day. It was horrible, knowing that the people she loved the most were terrified of her, ashamed of her, and the physical isolation in the tent was depressing. She was used to being around people all the time, and to be suddenly isolated from everyone while at the same time feeling all of their fears, their hate, their ideas of what should be done with her as if they were her own feelings and thoughts was maddening. Her mother, on the rare occasion she entered the tent, called her all kinds of names; she accused her of being a demon one day, of being possessed by evil the next and even of faking her ailment just to get attention or to dishonor her family. Eventually, she disowned Taia, stating that no child of her blood would "behave" in this manner and remain her child. Her younger sister Andrien, being six years old at the time, was kept away from her entirely; even her twin wouldn't set foot in the tent and seemed to be embarrassed by her.

All of this would have been bad enough, except for the growing heresy in the clan. Had she been born to any of the other clans, she would have been not banished, but offered the standard three options for a Shin'a'in born with Mage Gift: be trained as a shaman, have the Gifts blocked by the Tale'edras cousins, or join one of the Tale'edras clans instead, and be trained as a Mage. However, the Grass-cat Clan did not hold with these traditions – or at least, her mother and the shaman did not. They instead branded her possessed, demonic, and banished her to her own tent, to be mocked, ridiculed and ignored until the shaman could convince the tribe that she was worthy of a penalty of permanent banishment – or even death.

Perhaps it was fortunate, then, that Taia was in the possession of that older sister Brandi. Brandi had been banished two years earlier by their mother for the crime of being she'chorne. Again, in any of the other clans, this would not have even been a crime, much less one worthy of banishment; however, in the current climate and under this shaman – well, Brandi left the Cat Clan to join the Wolf Clan of her now-wife, Jacqui. Word of a crazed child among the Pretera'sedrin traveled throughout the Clans when their representatives visited Kata'shin'a'in to trade their horses and other goods. However, as it was not the practice of the Clans for one to interfere with the business of another, the members of the other Clans clucked their tongues but did nothing to help. At least – until the news reached Brandi. When Brandi heard the news of what had befallen her kid sister Taia, she came to her rescue.

After several attempts to convince their mother that following the shaman's direction was not only a bad idea, but cruel – Brandi realized the futility of her quest. No banished daughter was going to change their mother's mind. She further tried to convince the Elders that allowing the shaman to insist on this treatment of one of the Clan children, rather than follow the traditions of their people, was disobedient to the will of the Goddess as well as torture for the child in question; but they were unwilling to go against the will of the shaman.

Brandi was unafraid to enter that solitary tent, trusting in her sister's innate goodness even with her lack of control. Taia was in poor health, having not been fed in quantities or in quality to sustain her with the levels of magic energy she was pouring out uncontrollably. This, however, had been a lack of awareness on the part of the Clan, not a deliberate plan to starve the child. Taia was unable to go outside or exercise in any way physically, so her once-toned muscles lay in waste and she breathed the same stale tent air all day, all night, with no fresh air, no sunlight. Brandi nursed Taia back to physical health while trying continually to convince the clan to see reason; however, failing miserably at the latter, Brandi piled her sister on to her horse and absconded them both to the land of the Tale'edras cousins.

The trip was arduous, even for Shin'a'in who are able to live off the land with ease; Brandi had taken a horse to ride and a horse for supplies for each of them. While Shin'a'in bred horses are better able to live off of simple grass than other varieties, it was no small feat to travel across the Plains and through territories neither had ever seen, without so much as a map to find the Vale of whatever Tale'edras clan was closest. Add to that the additional stress of Taia being mostly comatose in her exhaustion from the attempt to keep the surrounding population's thoughts and feelings out of her head, and they were forced to take the least populated road they could find. This helped Taia to be more conscious at times, but lengthened the trip considerably. During the times Taia was more awake and able, Brandi enlisted her help in hunting, cooking and caring for the horses and even managed to work in some weapons-training. The trip took a little more than a moon before they were spotted by a Tale'edras scout a few miles from the territory of k'Treva clan and guided to the entrance of the Vale. This was where the real adventure would begin.

On entering the Vale, Taia was suddenly hit with the realization that despite being surrounded by people, the only thoughts inside her head were her own. Nothing was flying around the sky – with the exception of the Tale'edras bondbirds that were expected to be there. It was as if a tent full of shouting voices had suddenly been quieted, and the only sounds left in her head were her own thoughts. After so much time with so much "company", she hardly recognized her own "voice" anymore; but she was glad for the silence. And instead of what felt like a storm of other peoples' fear, anger, hatred – she felt only peace, like the sun had come out and the darkness was suddenly gone. The air seemed fresher, the light brighter, the birds more sweetly singing; she had forgotten what it was like to feel normal, to be alone in her head, to not be afraid that the nearest cooking pot would fly into someone's head.

She opened her eyes, surprisingly able to look on people around her without being bombarded by their emotions; she saw trees, taller than any she had ever seen before supporting what looked like strange houses in their branches. She saw twenty or so people, most of them with long white hair and pale blue eyes and outlandishly colored robes, all looking at her. She saw rock-paved trails around the Vale, with flowers and waterfalls, and strange lizard-like people moving hurriedly about. But none of this concerned her; what did concern her, and fill her with joy, was the silence in her head. After a year of never being alone with her own thoughts, of hearing the surrounding village thinking the most vile thoughts against her and the rejection of not only her mother but her twin – she nearly cried with relief. And these people were not afraid of her, either; they were smiling.

"What…..is this place?" she said. "Where am I? How did you know we were coming? And why did the noise in my head stop?"

"Welcome to k'Treva Vale," said the one nearest her. He – she? It was hard to tell, since they all wore similar clothing and had the same long white hair – was wearing a flowing multi-hued robe in blues. "My name is Lightwind k'Treva. Our scouts warned of your arrival; they are experts at watching without being seen. You, my dear, have quite the powerful Mage Gift, as well as a few others we will discuss later. For now, your Gifts have been shielded by the elders of this clan, until you have been trained in how to do so yourself. Have no fear; we will not harm you, cousin. Rest. Recover. When you have done so, we will discuss your options and your choices."

A young girl approached Taia; she appeared to be about Taia's age. Blonde, unlike her white-haired clansmen, with eyes bright green, wearing shades of a darker green. She looked strangely familiar – but how could that be possible? They couldn't possibly have met. Still, a strange sense of recognition – and she was sure she saw echoes in this strange girl's eyes that she recognized Taia, as well.

"My name is Whitestar," the girl said. "You may stay with me in my ekele. I will be your guide and help you adapt to the Vale; I am also attending Mage classes, and so we can go together. You won't feel so alone."

Taia smiled, and she decided not to wonder what this thing called an "ekele" was. She also decided not to worry about these impending classes for her so-called Mage Gift, and simply allowed her horse to be led to – a tree? She was going to live in a tree? A Shin'a'in, who never left the ground save to mount her horse and lived the entirety of life on a plain – necessarily flat ground – was going to live in a tree? She had not seen this coming. She also could not manage to figure out, in her depleted state, what she was supposed to do with the knotted rope this Whitestar person lowered down from the platform she had somehow managed to get to without Taia noticing. She attempted to climb said rope, but lost her footing. She had the embarrassing realization that she was about to fall – a prodigy level Shin'a'in warrior, falling off a rope – felt the sensation of falling – and then was suddenly lying on her back, on the platform she had been attempting to climb up to.

"How…what…huh?!" she managed to say with a great degree of eloquence.

"Fetching is one of my Gifts," said Whitestar. "Although, not one of my stronger ones. It's a good thing you weren't any farther away, I wouldn't have been able to Fetch you up here. The ekele is rather new – the stair has not been built yet."

"Fetching?" Taia's eloquence continued.

"It's a Gift that lets a person move things with their mind," Whitestar said. "You have it, too, and stronger than mine. Have you had things around you inexplicably flying around the room?"

How did she know? Taia was surprised, and it must have shown on her face. Whitestar smiled.

"I thought so. Don't worry, you'll learn to use it quickly, and soon nothing will fly around your head without your permission!"

"What…..other gifts do I have? Or you?" Taia wasn't really sure she wanted to know, but she couldn't help being curious nonetheless.

"Well…..I am something of a prodigy here. Apparently, a long time ago, Vanyel Ashkevron fathered some children for some she'chorne couples here…and I am a descendant of those children. It seems that I have inherited his prodigious complement of Gifts, as well," Whitestar said. "I am in training to become the most powerful Healing Adept the Vales have yet seen, although until my training is complete, I am little more than a novice. Unlike most Healing Adepts, I can also Heal people – not just the rogue magic my people are bonded by the Goddess to do. Plus I have the Mage Gift, like you. And Fetching, as you have just seen, Mindspeech, Farsight, Empathy."

"Wow. That…..sounds like a lot. What does Adept mean?" Taia asked.

"That is a ranking that determines what level of energy a mage can use. Adept is the highest level. You also have the potential to be an Adept, so you will be an Adept-class Mage, and quite a powerful one, as my father said. You also have very powerful Mindspeech, Farsight and Empathy. Your Fetching gift is average-strength, however, and along with a vanishingly small Healing Gift you also possess a bit of Firestarting."

Taia was overwhelmed. "That…sounds like a lot, too."

Whitestar smiled. "It is. But it's nothing to worry about. Get some sleep – this is your pallet over here. When you wake up, we will talk some more, and I will attempt to answer all of your questions. But for now – sleep. You are overwhelmed and exhausted."

Taia walked – carefully, you never knew when one of these tree-houses – apparently, they're called ekeles – were going to fall right out of the tree – over to the pallet Whitestar indicated. She lay down and realized that yes, she was exhausted. And before another coherent thought could enter her head, she fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep – the likes of which she had not had in over a year, when this Gift thing started.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two**

Taia woke to bright sunlight streaming in through the windows – wait, windows? Shin'a'in tents don't have windows, they have smokeholes – of this….. tree….house…where was she? Oh yes, the ekele. She was with the Tale'edras. They were somehow keeping themselves out of her head, which is why she had the energy to wonder where she was in the first place. She was...staying with this Whitestar person. Girl. Why did this mere girl live alone? Why had that not occurred to her yet? She opened her eyes. Whitestar was standing over by the window, the light making her hair glow as if it were on fire. There was a large bird on a stand in front of her, and they appeared to be….talking? How was that possible? Whitestar could talk to birds? What strange world was this?

"Good morning," Whitestar said, smiling. Taia felt something constrict in her stomach, decided she was hungry. Yes, hungry. "You've been asleep for two days, although I can't say that I'm surprised. It has to have been exhausting to have all of those Gifts running haywire for a whole year, I can't imagine."

"But….I thought you had a lot of Gifts. Why are mine the only ones that went… haywire? Is there something wrong with me?"

"Goddess, no! No, you just had the problem of having them come to manifest in a community where no one could help you. Here, there are Mages everywhere you turn around. By the time a child is showing signs of a Gift manifesting, the Mages have them in training within the candlemark, it seems! But you, you were living with the Shin'a'in – no Mages, only the shaman – and I hear from your sister, had it been…another Clan, you may yet have had a better time of it. At least you may have found your way here sooner – or more likely, ended up at k'Sheyna. They were actually closer to you, you took a rather circuitous route! But in any case, you're here now, and I am sure you have questions. And you're likely hungry. Let me show you where the food is."

Whitestar led Taia to another section of the tree ho…..ekele, where there was an ample supply of bread, cheese, some fruit and kava. Taia tried not to stuff herself too quickly – she didn't want to be rude – but she really was hungry, and didn't realize just how hungry until that first bite of buttered bread hit her lips. She hardly tasted anything at all. Eventually, though, her appetite diminished and she started to notice – this was really good kava. The fruit was at a particularly perfect state of ripeness, as well – wait, these were strawberries! It wasn't strawberry season!

"How do you have strawberries at this time of year? Are they magic strawberries?"

Whitestar laughed. "Of a sort, I suppose. I'm sure you've noticed that the Vale is neither hot nor cold, humid nor dry? One of the things that the mages here do is regulate the weather inside the Vale. You passed through the shield when you got here, do you remember?"

"Not really," Taia said.

"I guess you wouldn't, you had a lot going on. It's rather like the shield that is keeping your mind safe from the onslaught of our emotions, only bigger and stronger. It keeps anyone walking past out – they can't see that there's anything there, and it has a sort of property that encourages them to walk away – and only those it recognizes, or those the mages allow, are able to enter. It keeps us safe from the wild creatures of the Pelagiris, as well as any army that thinks it's going to invade. One of the side advantages is it also allows us to control the weather inside the Vale; it could be pouring down rain outside, or even snowing, and inside the shield it will be a nice balmy temperature with the sun shining. It rains here, but only at night when the mages allow it. This means also that we can grow whatever we want – whenever we want. Nice perks for our hard work cleaning up the Pelagiris!"

The quest of the Shin'a'in was to guard the Dhorisha Plains – which contained the magical weapons Urtho had deemed too dangerous to use back in the days of the Mage Wars. This was the reason they trained as warriors from the day they could walk. The quest of the Tale'edras, the cousins of the Shin'a'in, was to cleanse the lands of the effects of the Mage Wars. Before the Wars, they were one people, the Kaled'a'in; but the disastrous effects of magic caused the leaders to disagree on whether magic should even still be used, and so they split amicably into two peoples: the Shin'a'in, who guarded the Plains but did not use magic, and the Tale'edras, who cleansed the lands with magic. Equally important jobs; the lands could not be cleansed without the use of magic, and the weapons at the center of the Plains were best guarded without it. Both these quests were sworn to their shared Goddess, the Star-Eyed, and they took them very seriously.

Taia finished chewing her bread thoughtfully and took a drink of that wonderful kava. She remembered her next question.

"Were you talking to a bird?" she said. Still eloquent as always.

"Yes, actually. That is my bondbird, Tyke – he's a forestgyre. All the Tale'edras have one bondbird, a few have two; one woman has an entire flock of sunbirds. I just have Tyke. He is intelligent enough that we can mindspeak each other; he helps me scout, he hunts for me when I need him to, he provides me with companionship, and in the event that I am attacked he will assist in my defense."

"Hmph," said Taia around a bite of cheese. "I sometimes wish I could mindspeak my horse, but most of the time I'm glad he doesn't know what I'm thinking."

Whitestar laughed. "Tyke can't read my thoughts all the time. And I can block him out. But yes, I can see where it would be difficult to have someone reading your thoughts all the time!"

"I wouldn't know about having other people read my thoughts, but I can tell you that having other people's thoughts in my head all the time is no fun," said Taia. "I thought I was going insane. It was hard to tell who was me and who wasn't – and they were all so afraid of me. It was horrible."

"It sounds like it. But you're here now, and we will keep these shields on your mind until you learn to do it for yourself. It shouldn't take long."

"I think I'm going to devote myself to learning to make the biggest, strongest shields in history," said Taia. "Why do you live here by yourself?"

"I don't, actually," said Whitestar. "It looks like I do, because I have my own quarters, but my parents live in the ekele just above me. Since, as a particularly powerful Healing Adept, my training was going to be more intensive than most – it didn't seem reasonable for me to take up the training rooms all by myself indefinitely, when they would serve more of a purpose being used for the regular classes. My lessons often take place here, since I have them at all hours and so many of them! I'm usually exhausted afterwards, so now I don't have to traipse across the Vale to collapse – I just tip over."

Taia laughed a little – she could certainly see the reasoning behind that. She'd had more than one weapons-training class that left her barely able to crawl back to her tent. Which led her to her other problem – catching up on weapons-training.

"Is my sister still here?" she asked Whitestar.

"Of course. She's in the guest quarters, I'll take you there."

They cleaned up the kitchen from breakfast together, then Whitestar demonstrated the rope ladder to and from the platform of the ekele that had given Taia so much trouble on the way up. It was much easier going down, and also while awake. They walked down the path, which was of neatly paved stone and gently curving so that nothing was a straight line, but seemed as if they were walking down a trail through the woods. Taia wasn't sure she'd remember her way back, but it certainly was beautiful with trees all around. Not just any trees, huge trees, with trunks so big her horse could hide behind one, with ekeles discreetly tucked into their branches. There were bushes and flowers lining the path on each side with strange lights lighting the way. They passed a mass of rock, with waterfalls cascading from one pool to the next, steaming hot on the bottom and progressively less warm towards the top; that was interesting.

"What is that?" Taia asked.

"Those," Whitestar answered, "are the baths. The pride and joy of all Vales. You start at the top and get clean, then rinse the soap off in the middle. Then you sit and relax in the hot spring at the bottom and just luxuriate in it until all your aches are gone."

"Wow. That sounds wonderful, particularly after a long day of weapons classes."

"Well, you won't have to worry about those anymore anyway – with your Mage power, you won't ever need to lift a sword again!"

Taia stopped short. She loved her weapons classes, she didn't want to stop training as a warrior just because she was going to be a mage. Whitestar looked at her, confused.

"Well, don't you want to be a mage?"

"I don't know," said Taia. "I never thought about it. I'm Shin'a'in, we don't have mages. I like weapons training, I don't know that I want to give it up. It's kind of….who I am."

"I hadn't thought about that. I guess everyone here grows up around so much magic, that it's more unusual NOT to have any Gifts. Weapons training is something only scouts need, and the unGifted. I suppose, though, there's no real reason you can't continue, if we can find you a teacher and you have the time," said Whitestar.

Taia bit her lip. She would have to think about this mage thing. Maybe it wasn't too late to have the Gifts blocked and just return to the Plains, back to being an ordinary Shin'a'in who was prodigiously good with a sword…..maybe Wolf Clan would take her in, as they'd taken Brandi…..

They took the last turn and ended up at the guest quarters. Brandi was sitting outside weaving, another of the Shin'a'in traditions, one that Brandi was particularly good at – but she jumped up immediately when she saw Taia come. Taia ran to her, not realizing until that moment how good it was to see a familiar face in such unfamiliar surroundings.

"Hey, sis! How are you feeling?" Brandi said. "Are you settling in?"

"I suppose. It's all very strange, I'm not really sure how I feel about it. I…..guess I'll never just be a regular Shin'a'in again, will I? Never ride the Plains, never see my friends…." Taia started to cry.

"Hey, what are you talking about? Of course you're still Shin'a'in. That's the blood, little sister, it's not about where you live or what you can do. But you're right….your life is about to change a whole lot, and there's not a lot that can be done about it. Just take what the Star-Eyed saw fit to give you and do the best you can with it."

"How will I get my weapons training? Whitestar says I won't need it anymore, since I'll be able to – I don't know, zap lighting out of my fingernails – but I don't want to give it up," cried Taia. "I don't know how to find a trainer, certainly not here, what am I going to do?"

Brandi gave her sister a squeeze. "Well…..that's something I can help with. I've sent a messenger to Jacqui; I'm going to stay on here for a while, make sure you get yourself settled and taken care of. I will continue to train you – you're already almost better than I am, but I can still teach you technique – and if Jacqui agrees, I will stay for a year or two, and when I leave I will make sure you have either a new teacher or a solid routine to teach yourself. It won't be the same, but it isn't any less than you would have gotten on the Plains, just perhaps with fewer sparring partners. Ok?"

Taia felt better knowing she would be able to continue her training. But she still wasn't sure she wanted to continue with this mage training business. Magecraft might be common enough in the Vale, but it was unheard of in the Clans. She had no idea what it meant to be a mage, what these other Gifts that Whitestar said she had were really about. Did she want them? What good could they possibly bring, when all they'd brought her so far was rejection by her mother and twin, demonization by her clan, and banishment – ok, so her Clan hadn't actually stated she was banished, but if she returned with active Gifts they sure wouldn't hesitate – from the only home she'd ever known? Where would she ride her horse? There were too many trees here for a gallop, even if the distance were enough to justify getting on one in the first place. She might be ethnically still Shin'a'in…but there would be precious little left of her heritage to prove it.

"What about my horse? Can I keep him? And the pack horse, can I keep her, too?"

"I wasn't planning on taking them back with me. I'll tell you what. If the Tale'edras agree, I will even leave my pack mare with you. Maybe at some point while I'm here, I can see about getting you a couple more. You can start your own breeding program and your own little herd – Goddess knows you're entitled to a few horses of your own. No reason you can't be Shin'a'in wherever you go!" said Brandi.

Taia smiled at that; it was beginning to seem as if she were about to found her own tiny Clan. A Clan of one, perhaps, but a Clan nonetheless.

"Now. You go on with Whitestar and find that mage teacher, get started learning what you need to know. Faster you get trained, faster you can be saving the world with all that magic you got in you! Goddess knows, she didn't give you all those Gifts so you could waste them feeling sorry for what you don't have. You've got them so you can help people. So go learn how to do it."

Taia nodded. She went back to the path where Whitestar was waiting to take her to see the mage instructor. She still wasn't sure what to think about this mage business, but at least she'd have her sister here for awhile and wouldn't lose everything that made her – her.

Snowowl was waiting for the two girls in the training room. Taia was nervous, but she dared not show it – a Shin'a'in does not show weakness. It invited defeat; half of a victory in battle was in the intimidation of the other side, and that would not happen if one showed fear. This was not precisely a battle, but Taia preferred to maintain her air of confidence nonetheless; may as well build the habit of confidence she had begun to develop with her weapons training. It would likely be useful in magic working, as well.

Snowowl was dressed in a silvery-white robe, with his long white hair pulled behind his head and out of his face. His face was ageless – wrinkled enough to show he was a mature adult, but he could have been anywhere between forty and eighty for all Taia could tell beyond that. He sat calmly, expressionless, in the center of a large circular room with marble walls and floor. There were no torches, only a few thick glass windows near the top of the dome. The torches were on the outside of that glass. Taia wondered at the strange design, but didn't say anything. The Tale'edras were a strange people, for all that they were cousins of a sort.

"Welcome, young Shin'a'in. I am Snowowl, and I will be your first instructor in the use of your gifts. To start, let me ask you your wishes. Do you wish to be trained as a shaman to your people?"

Taia thought about that. She didn't have a particularly good experience with the shaman of her own Clan, to say the least. She supposed that perhaps she could do a better job than he – but then, she would have to train under someone. She didn't want to train in another Clan; she wasn't even sure if she would be allowed. She certainly couldn't train under the grass-cat shaman. Besides, she didn't have a particular interest in being a shaman – they didn't fight, they didn't hunt – they didn't even ride, unless they were moving camp. Everything she loved about being Shin'a'in would be right there in front of her, but she wouldn't be able to do any of it.

"No….not particularly….." she said.

"Very well. Do you wish to have your Gifts blocked? I should warn you, they are strong enough that I am not entirely sure we could even do so, and to try and fail could be dangerous. But if it is what you truly wish, we will try. If we did succeed, it would be permanent and irreversible, so please consider this carefully," Snowowl said.

Taia thought about this. She never wanted to be a mage, and certainly not a powerful one. All she ever wanted was to ride the Plains on her horse, feel the wind in her face and the sun on her back. She wanted to go hunting with her friends and train in her swordwork, the bow, and even the knives and shortswords that did not come so easily to her. If they blocked her Gifts – and it worked – she could do all that. It was certainly tempting. But again – she didn't think they'd take her back in her own Clan, Gift-blocked or no. And if she went to another Clan, if there were even one that would take her, she would have to make all new friends, start training under another weaponsmaster, and who knew how her past might affect her acceptance there? Still, it might be worth it…

But then she remembered her conversation with her sister. Brandi, who had endured the renewed rejection by her mother and the possibility of execution by grass-cat Clan for returning despite banishment, the separation from her wife and the arduous and dangerous journey to bring her here. Brandi, who continued to be separated from her wife and her Clan just to make sure that Taia got settled and had access to continued weapons training; and Brandi, who had told her that she needed to use what the Star-Eyed had given her for whatever purpose she could find to better the world. She wanted nothing more than to return to the Clans an ordinary Shin'a'in – but she wasn't an ordinary Shin'a'in. She was a prodigiously talented swordsperson, similarly gifted with a bow, and above average with other weaponry. She was also mage Gifted, among other Gifts she didn't yet want to acknowledge. She couldn't turn her back on what the Goddess had seen fit to give her. If she did, she would be letting herself down, the Goddess down – and more importantly, she would be letting Brandi down. Her older sister, who had quite possibly saved her life, and was the only one of her family who was neither afraid of her nor unwilling to care for and love her. Taia would rather die.

"No," she said, with some trepidation. "I will be trained."

Whitestar grinned. Taia wasn't really sure why it was so important to her, but she was glad that her new friend was pleased.

"Finally, I have someone to train with and practice with," said Whitestar. "It gets really lonely having to train all alone because no one else can train at my level; finally, I'll have someone to work with."

Taia could certainly understand that. She had started sword training with adults and sometimes even the Swordsworn; her agemates were nowhere near her level.

"So. First we will learn the basics of shielding. We want you to be able to shield yourself as quickly as possible. While we certainly don't mind, the energy we devote to shielding you needs to be redirected towards the Pelagiris, which is where it belongs. Now, I imagine that the Shin'a'in have some sort of routine warm-up for their sword training, yes? And you have been taught this?" asked Snowowl.

"Um….yes, I perform a series of sword dances in order to loosen my muscles and prepare my mind to focus on the lesson," said Taia, not really sure how her swordwork was relevant to her mage training.

"Excellent. I believe that state of mind you enter during that dance is the state we call 'ground and center', which is the state you need to be able to find like a reflex. That is the basis on which your shields will be anchored. Close your eyes, and visualize the sword dances step by step. If it helps to get up and move through them, please do so," said Snowowl.

Taia did just that. She wanted to get it right the first time, so she stood up and began to move through her sword dance routines. Whitestar and Snowowl watched and were amazed by the grace of her movements, but didn't say a word. Taia sensed someone watching her, not with eyes but watching her mind – but she ignored it, focused on her sword dance. She lost her awareness of everything around her and knew nothing other than the next movement, the next step.

: _That's it:_ she heard in her head. She almost jumped out of her skin – but managed to continue her movement. : _That is grounded and centered. A very solid job of it, in fact. Do not be disturbed by my voice in your head; this is Mindspeech. Now open your eyes.:_

Taia did as she was told, but continued the dance. She noticed that she stayed solid in the mindset that Snowowl was referring to as grounded and centered.

: _Now I want you to try and maintain this state, but end the dance and return to a sitting position.:_

Taia completed the routine and sat down. She found it somewhat more difficult to maintain her focus, but managed to do so.

: _Do you feel the energy around you? Can you see it?:_

Taia thought she could, and nodded her head slightly.

: _That is the shield surrounding you. Close your eyes again, and look at it with your mind. It sounds silly, yes, but just try it.:_

Snowowl was right, it did sound silly; but she did as she was told. Snowowl was a bit surprised that she didn't argue or ask questions regarding what he asked her to do, despite the fact that it would seem very strange to someone not used to magic; but then, Taia had been used to following the direction of instructors. Arguing with a weapons training instructor was dangerous. She could see something surrounding her, a faint – but solid – translucent white sheet. She reached out her hand to touch it, but of course it wasn't a physical shield. She kept studying it, examining every inch. She wanted to learn to recreate this at least as quickly as Snowowl wanted her to.

"Good," said Snowowl aloud. "That is excellent work. Now. I want you to drop the focus. Then try to recreate it, this time without the sword dance. Now that you know what your goal is, it should be progressively easier to attain."

Taia did as she was told. It took her a few tries to successfully get grounded and centered without the sword dance routine, but when she finally got it, it was easier and easier to re-establish each time. She was anxious to start learning to build those shield-things – but Snowowl had other ideas.

"That is enough for today," he said. "I know you feel like you are ready for more, but you have exercised 'muscles' in your mind that have never been worked before, and you have given them a greater workout than you realize. Drink some willowbark tea – you will have a headache later, if you do not – and go eat some lunch. Spend the rest of the day with your sister, acclimating yourself. We will work again tomorrow."

Taia nodded, a little disappointed. She really wanted to learn how to build these shields. She did not like being dependent on the Vale for the protection of her own mind, and she also did not like not being in control of her own self-defense. She did as she was told, however, and got up. She looked at Whitestar, expecting her to follow.

"It is time for my lesson," Whitestar said. "I will see you in the kitchens for dinner. If you get lost, just ask anyone you see; they will help you find your way."

Whitestar smiled encouragingly. Taia smiled back, but secretly she was a bit disappointed; she was hoping not to be separated, and she was hoping to make more progress on learning shields. She was impatient; she wanted to learn everything, now. But she knew that a lifetime of experience cannot be taught in one day, no matter how badly she wanted it. She left the training room to find a cup of willowbark tea sitting on a small table, which she drank obediently. She headed off towards the guest houses to find Brandi – she didn't really know how she was supposed to find food, but hoped Brandi would have some idea – and maybe she could work on her swordwork after lunch. The sun was shining – of course it was, in the weather-controlled Vale – and things were looking up again, finally.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three**

Taia wasn't really sure how she found her way back to the guest houses, but she did. She found Brandi and together, they found their way to a kitchen and got some lunch.

"How was your first day of mage lessons?" Brandi asked.

"Well….it was different, that's for sure," said Taia. "I was expecting to do a little more, but I suppose they know what they're doing." Taia explained the lesson about grounding and centering, but could tell that Brandi wasn't really understanding when she was describing the white light "shield". That was ok – Taia didn't really understand it either, and she certainly wouldn't have believed it had she not seen it herself, and experienced the difference between life with and without it. She much preferred with.

"They do have a lot of mages here," said Brandi. "They probably train mages about as often as we train warriors. I know it's been awhile, but the first time you picked up a sword all they had you do was swing it at a bale of straw for a candlemark. You were disappointed then, too."

Taia laughed. That was true – she had forgotten. She had come a long way since then, and it was often difficult to remember what it was like to be a beginner. Granted, she was about three summers old when she began training with the sword, and it's difficult to get a child that young to focus on anything for longer than a candlemark – but still. Had the weaponsmaster wanted the child Taia to focus longer than that, well, weaponsmasters had methods to make that happen. So, she supposed she would have to be patient and accept that she would be learning the more complicated aspects of magery and mind Gifts soon enough.

Taia and Brandi finished lunch and ambled to an open piece of land. They had passed through the Veil that defined the edge of the Tale'edras housing, but not the edge of their territory; neither of them noticed, although Taia felt a kind of tingling sensation. She paid it no mind, though; they were allowed to come and go as they pleased, since the shield recognized them as "friend" while they were living in the Vale as guests. They had stopped on the way and picked up their weaponry – swords, bows, knives and shortswords – and began to warm up. They worked together through the same sword dance routines Taia had performed in the magic lesson that morning, only this time they completed the entire routine in tandem. Had there been anyone to watch, it would have been quite beautiful; both women moved quite gracefully, swinging the swords more as if they were merely extensions of their own arms than the deadly weapons they were. The light that hit the swords flashed and sparkled, as the dance was designed to display.

When they were finished, Brandi tutored and sparred with Taia on swordwork, knives – both throwing knives and knife fighting – and short swords. They debated working with the bow, but decided to pass as they weren't entirely sure how far away they were from other people, and didn't want to accidentally hit anyone. Both had excellent aim, as most Shin'a'in did, but bow practice required some athletic moves to develop the ability to shoot accurately from various positions as well as while moving, particularly while on a horse. This led to the possibility of a miss – and that arrow could go anywhere. So instead of bow work, they practiced hand-to-hand combat.

Taia enjoyed the physical workout and the return to something approaching normalcy. As much as the mental focus grounded her magic ability, the physical grounded her into herself. After they had worked up quite a sweat, they sat together under a tree to cool off before returning to the occupied part of the Vale.

"What do you think of Whitestar?" asked Brandi.

"I like her," said Taia. "It's nice to have someone my age to work with. I think it would be a lot harder without her."

"I'm sure it would be. And I hear she's a similar prodigy in her own right as well, so you have that in common – she won't be jealous, and neither will you," said Brandi.

"I don't know why I would have been jealous anyway," said Taia. "It's not like I wanted a mage Gift, so why would I be jealous if someone else got a stronger one?"

"That's true, but I think once you get farther along in your training, you'll want to be the best. It's who you are – you always want to be the best at everything you undertake to learn. You at the very least never settle for anything less than the absolute best _you_ can do. It's one of your best qualities, I think. So the fact that you're training with someone so equally matched – it will keep you working hard, but neither will be jealous of the other since you're at the same level," said Brandi.

"I suppose," said Taia. She couldn't really imagine ever being jealous of Whitestar. There was something familiar about her, although Taia couldn't figure out what, but she felt so comfortable with Whitestar it was like she was home in that ekele she'd only even been conscious in for a few hours.

"Well I don't know about you, but I'm getting hungry again. Time for dinner, and then a bath," Brandi said.

Taia readily agreed with that sentiment. They made their way back to the kitchens, dropping off their weaponry in Brandi's rooms. Whitestar met them there, having just finished her magic lesson. They sat down together at a table and began to eat.

"What did you do after mage lessons, Taia?" asked Whitestar.

"Brandi and I worked on my weapons training," Taia answered. "I'm looking forward to trying those baths later."

"I bet you are! That's a hard physical workout after a hard mental one. Have you noticed a headache at all?"

"Now that you mention it, there's just a slight one behind my eyes. It's not bad, though, I can cope with it."

"Drink some more willowbark tea, it will make you sleep better. Your lesson tomorrow will be easier then."

Taia obliged. "What did you learn today?" she asked.

"I learned how to create a Gate spell. It's very draining, I think I'll have some of that willowbark tea myself. The baths will certainly feel good, but before we do that we should walk around a bit – give the food time to settle before we get in a hot pool," Whitestar said.

"Sure," said Taia. "What is a Gate spell?"

"It's a spell that lets the caster travel hundreds of leagues through what appears to be just a doorway. The caster has to have personally seen both ends of it, though, and since I have never left the Vale my Gate was very very small!" Whitestar said.

Taia was impressed. She could see how this spell, if the person were very well traveled, could be extremely useful.

They finished their meal with casual conversation. As it turned out, Snowowl was Whitestar's uncle – that explained some of the similarities in their features. Whitestar had an older brother, Greyhawk, who was not mage Gifted but had the gift of Mindspeech. He was a scout, which meant he patrolled the area outside the Vale watching for potential problems either in terms of invaders or magical beasts. It was decided that since Taia wanted to improve on her warrior skills, she would at some point spend some time working with Greyhawk to learn to walk the trees – she wasn't sure she liked the sound of that – and to utilize the techniques the Tale'edras used to remain invisible while watching their quarry. That would come much later, however; Taia had a lot of progress to make before she could learn that.

After the meal, Whitestar gave Brandi and Taia a brief tour of the rest of the Vale, and introduced them to the hertasi – the strange lizard-like people Taia vaguely remembered noticing on her arrival – who cooked, sewed, and maintained order for the Vale in return for the weather and physical protection the Tale'edras provided them. They arrived at the baths with their meal fully settled and ready for the languishing in a hot pool – except for one thing.

"Wait, don't we need bathing clothes?" Taia asked.

"No, silly, do you normally take a bath with clothes on?" teased Whitestar.

"Well, no, but…." Taia hesitated, suddenly modest. She wasn't quite sure why she was reacting this way – it's not like she'd never bathed naked with other girls among her Clan. Why was she nervous around Whitestar? But she didn't say anything, just stripped down and got into the top-level pool with Brandi and Whitestar. Brandi looked at her strangely, but likewise didn't say anything.

The bath was luxurious. After they finished cleaning in the top pool, they moved to the second one to rinse. It was slightly warmer than the first, but they didn't stay there long before they progressed to the bottom pool – the hot one. They languished there, chatting about inconsequential things and generally getting to know each other; finally, when none of the three could keep their eyes open one minute longer, they crawled out – to find towels and robes placed by the hertasi without them ever being aware of it. They dried off, and instead of putting their sweaty clothing back on, which the hertasi had taken away anyway, presumably for cleaning – they put on the robes and walked back to their respective beds; Brandi to the guest house, Taia and Whitestar to the ekele.

Taia had no doubt that she would work hard here and learn a lot; however, with baths like these, she thought she could handle it.

Taia progressed quickly in her mage training, at least as far as shield building. Not because she was a prodigiously fast learner, but because she wanted to construct the best possible shields to keep people out of her head. The bonus of that desire was that she learned to control her other abilities quicker as well. The specific spells, that was mostly just learning control and focus; control and focus in general terms, she had learned in weapons training. It was a challenge to learn it with respect to mental abilities, and to practice a variety of skills and spells and to utilize them all at once: shield while casting an attack, shield while absorbing an attack, determine which kind of shield or attack is most appropriate to the situation…... that took time, and a lot of practice. Learning to see the different energies – ley line, node, Heartstone – was fun, but she wasn't anywhere near using any of them yet.

Having had a headstart in learning the value of control in her weapons training – bad things happen if you swing a sword in the wrong direction or can't stop in time – made it easier to translate that discipline into mage lessons. Fetching was taking awhile to learn; she had a hard time understanding that she really could move things with her mind, nor was she able to understand how to actually do it. It was somewhat ironic that she had no trouble learning to create Mage lights – those were the strange lights that lit the pathways – and even see things that were miles away, or talk into someone else's mind just by thinking at them – but moving things, well, that was just too strange. And because Firestarting was related to Fetching, and the fact that her Firestarting Gift was not very strong, she had a hard time with that one as well. Healing – that was so weak she couldn't consciously use it. It was more of an instinct that she could really only use to keep herself alive – not anyone else – and only until someone with a real Gift arrived. She decided to refer to it as a "stay alive" Gift, rather than a Healing Gift, since that's all she could really do with it anyway.

The months passed. Taia was learning new spells every day, and building on her skills with the older ones. She woke before dawn and had breakfast with Whitestar, followed by mage lessons almost entirely alongside her; they were learning to link their minds and combine their magic and strength. Most days, the last hour before lunch and the first hour after were spent practicing Mind magic; she had a variety of teachers for this, based on which Gift she was practicing and which member of the Vale was both free and in possession of that Gift that day. After this, she would find Brandi and practice her weapons training. Then came dinner – most of the time with Whitestar, sometimes without – and then those amazing baths.

Many evenings, Taia would use her Farsight to speed along the trails until she caught up with her Clan. She saw her twin, Kiri, take oaths of a Kal'enedral – the Swordsworn – that was a surprise. She wished she could have been there to talk to her about it, learn why she was taking that particular oath; while it was a prestigious position, it also meant she would forswear marriage and children, something Taia had thought Kiri wanted. She would also receive special weapons training, they say directly from the Goddess; Taia was a bit jealous of that. Her younger sister, Andrien, was enjoying being the sole focus of her mother's attention, and Taia was a little worried about that. She didn't want Andrien to grow up with her mother's warped prejudices; but realistically, she knew there was nothing she could do about it.

She realized one night that while she still missed the Plains – the familiarity of it, the freedom, the fact that she knew every inch of it – she no longer thought of the Plains as "home". She missed her friends, she missed living with people like herself, and the familiarity of her own culture and knowing what was coming next; what was expected of her, and having a reasonable expectation of what her own future would look like. But it was no longer with the sort of longing or loss that she had felt in the first few months after her arrival. She wasn't sure if that was just due to the fact that she was so busy, or if she was starting to enjoy being a mage and living amongst the Tale'edras cousins, but she was surprised by the realization.

She was enjoying the Vale, she enjoyed her lessons and she was making new friends; but she was not Tale'edras. She missed her home, her family; however hard it had been to live with them when the maelstrom of her Gifts appeared, she had more memories of riding the Plains together, hunting together, training together, laughing together, all the things that make a family. She was the only Shin'a'in here; well, except for Brandi, but Brandi wasn't staying forever and the time of her departure was coming soon. It had been decided that she would stay for a year – she didn't want to be away from home, or from Jacqui, any longer than that, and Taia couldn't blame her. As much as Taia would miss her sister, it was bad enough that she herself couldn't go home – to keep Brandi here, away from a Clan that DID want her back – not to mention her wife – just so Taia wouldn't be the only resident Shin'a'in, that would be truly selfish. But it didn't mean Taia had to look forward to it.

Taia was starting to have strange dreams again. Not the kind with other people in her mind, exactly, she had managed to construct for herself fairly solid shields, strong enough that the Tale'edras didn't have to provide shielding for her, but not strong enough that she was satisfied. She wasn't sure she would ever be satisfied, if she were honest about it. These dreams were very particular, and always involved Whitestar. Taia supposed that was natural – afterall, they lived together, they trained together, they ate together, they bathed together – naked. That naked thing still made her nervous, which was strange. Nakedness among the Shin'a'in wasn't a big deal, people changed clothes in front of each other regularly, and bathed or swam naked in the river quite frequently – the Plains were exceptionally hot in the summer. But this was different, and she wasn't exactly sure why. She wanted to pretend she didn't catch herself watching Whitestar when she smiled, when she laughed, didn't notice the way the light hit her hair or the way her eyes sparkled when she was being funny- but she did. She wanted to pretend she didn't feel the spark when their hands touched during their lessons – or that the spark was only related to the linking of magic, not the linking of bodies. She wanted to pretend she didn't know that Whitestar was feeling the same thing – but they were both Empaths, and no matter how hard or tight she was shielded most of the time, when they had to link minds to practice their magic, she felt it. And she knew Whitestar did, too.

Taia wasn't thrilled with this progression. She knew that among other Shin'a'in Clans, being she'chorne wasn't a big deal; Brandi was, and had been accepted into Wolf Clan without any difficulty. Taia loved her sister without question, but it was one thing to accept something in a beloved sister when you'd been told all your life it was wrong, and quite another to accept it in herself. Among her own Clan it was one more thing to add that made her anathema. She could never go back. Not only would she be shunned for being a Mage, but now for being she'chorne, as well. She felt terribly alone. She also felt terribly shy. She wanted – she wasn't sure what, exactly, she wanted to do with Whitestar, but she knew she wanted it with every fiber of her being. But she didn't want to be the first to act, and she wasn't sure she was ready for what she knew was true to actually be real. If she didn't say it out loud, if she didn't act on it – well, it wasn't real. It was only in her head, and no one could banish her from her people for what was in her head, right? Right? Except that in her head was also where her magic originated…

Taia spent several weeks with this conundrum growing, watching Whitestar move, watching her speak, laugh, smile – and trying to not watch it all at the same time. It was getting harder. She was sure everyone else in the Vale could see her trying not to watch. Particularly Snowowl, who seemed to be getting some kind of perverse pleasure in making them work linked together for longer and longer periods of time, during which it was nearly impossible for Taia to not feel Whitestar's similar frustration and similar longing…and it was getting harder for both girls to not act on it. The only thing stopping them at all was their mutual inexperience, which was probably a good thing in the long run as it gave Taia at least some time to come to terms with what she – they – were feeling.

One night, however, in the bath – it would be in the bath, when she was already naked – Brandi left early to go to bed. She claimed to be exhausted – but Taia was sure something else was going on. She was right.

"So," said Whitestar.

"So," said Taia.

"We're both feeling this…thing. I know you feel it, I feel it when we're linked. I'm not sure what it is, exactly, but I know…..I know it makes me want to spend all my time with you," said Whitestar.

"I…know," said Taia. "I can't stop…..watching you. I can't stop thinking about you, dreaming about you. It's…..so strange. I've never felt this way before. I didn't know I could, I mean, you're a girl….."

"You didn't know you were she'chorne?" said Whitestar.

"No," said Taia. "The shaman in my clan…..he preached that it was a crime against the Goddess to be she'chorne…..it's why Brandi left to join Wolf Clan. I never…..I never thought about it, honestly, between it being forbidden and the Mage Gifts…"

"I hadn't realized that," said Whitestar. "That must be particularly hard…it's not a crime against anyone, here."

"When did you know?" Taia asked.

"I've known for a couple years. I had a sort-of girlfriend, once – it was more about the excitement of saying I had one than it was about an actual relationship. Nothing…..happened," Whitestar said. She seemed to be apologizing for having any previous experience at all, and Taia was surprised to feel just the tiniest wave of jealousy for this unknown other girl.

They sat in silence for a minute, each pretending not to notice how close the other was. After a few minutes, Taia looked up – to find Whitestar only inches away. The pull was too strong – Whitestar leaned in and kissed Taia, gently, clumsily, but determinedly. Taia felt as if her head would explode. So warm. So soft. She reached out without knowing it and put her hand on Whitestar's waist and before either knew what had happened they were completely entwined, kissing each other, touching each other, and neither one wanted to stop – but they did stop, out of breath, and sat there for a minute in each other's arms.

"I don't think…..I don't think it would be good to….keep going here," said Whitestar. "It's…..not forbidden to….do that here, but it's public. And I – I haven't done it before. I don't want to have the first time…here."

"I'm…..not sure I want to…..do that today," said Taia. "I mean I do – I think I do – but I don't know if I'm ready. I'm sorry."

"It's ok, I understand, I'm not so sure I am either," said Whitestar. "Let's dry off and go home….and sleep separately tonight."

They did just that, and while each of them wanted the other next to them that night – they slept alone, each on her own pallet, on opposite sides of the ekele.

Neither slept well.

The next morning, Taia begged off Mage lessons in the morning, asked to switch them to after midday. She needed to talk to Brandi. She needed to talk to Brandi before she went to train with Snowowl, before she tried to work mind-linked to Whitestar, before she couldn't control herself and just…..she didn't know what, but she needed to talk to Brandi.

She found her sitting at the table in the courtyard of the guest area, eating her breakfast.

"Taia," said Brandi, clearly surprised to see her. "What are you doing here this morning? Aren't you supposed to be in Mage lessons?"

"I….asked to switch them to after midday today. I needed to talk to you," said Taia.

"About what? Is there something wrong? Come, sit down," said Brandi.

"I guess there's no way to say it without just saying it," said Taia, unable to look her sister in the face. "How….when…..what made you know you were she'chorne? And how did you…..figure it out even though mom, the shaman…what was that like?"

"Wow," said Brandi. "This has really hit you hard, hasn't it? Whitestar, I suppose?"

"How did you know?" blurted Taia.

"I'm not blind. I've seen the two of you mooning after each other when you thought no one was looking. No, no – don't be embarrassed, I'm sure – well, other than Snowowl – no one else has noticed, no one else has seen either one of you enough to notice. Plus, I'm your sister. I know you pretty well," said Brandi.

Taia didn't have a response to that.

"But to answer your questions. I just…..knew. Other girls my age were talking about this boy, that boy, and how much they appreciated his muscles, his eyes, his whatever – and I kept thinking, I don't see any of that, but I sure do appreciate those things in the other girls. Then one day I was hugging a friend of mine who had lost a brother in a hunting accident – and, well, I kissed her. She kissed back. In the morning, she said it had been a mistake – but I knew it wasn't, at least for me.

"I met Jacqui at Kata'shin'a'in the first time I went with the trading expedition. I couldn't take my eyes off her. And later, at the inn – I couldn't keep my hands off her, either. The rest is history, at least as far as our relationship – but that's not all you asked. I tried. I tried for a long time to pretend I wasn't she'chorne. I even went on a few dates with boys I got along with. But it just wasn't going to work. And I tried to change Mom's mind – and even the shaman's. When it became obvious that they weren't going to change their minds – I had to make a choice. Be true to myself, and lose my Clan and my family – but keep my sanity, and keep Jacqui – or stay, make a life in the Clan of my birth, but say goodbye to Jacqui – and really, say goodbye to myself. It was an obvious choice, but a hard one; I was lucky enough to be accepted by the Wolf Clan, but even if I had not it would have been the right choice."

Taia thought about that. She already couldn't go home, to her own Clan – she was a mage. What benefit would she gain by continuing to adhere to her mother's and the shaman's heretical beliefs? Yes, if she ever saw her mother again – already unlikely – she would be disowned, rejected, and that hurt; but the consequence of denying….Whitestar…she couldn't. She didn't understand how this pull was this strong, but she couldn't imagine life without Whitestar, not anynmore.

"It just seems…..like the last thing. One last thing to make me anathema to my home Clan. I'm already a mage. I already can't go home, I can't be Shin'a'in, not really, and now…..this. But you're right, I don't want to try and….not…..be with Whitestar. I don't think I could," Taia said.

"Then what are you waiting for?" asked Brandi. "Go get your sword, it's time to train!"

Taia laughed. She picked up her sword as ordered and practiced her weaponry, nervous for the start of her new relationship – at least the new name it carried – but comforted in the fact that even if she didn't have her family, her Clan, her people or her land – she had her sister. And – she had Whitestar. It was enough.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four**

Taia left her sister, nervous about the future and this relationship with Whitestar that seemed to be developing a new definition, but one she had no experience with. She wasn't so nervous she was willing to skip out on magic lessons, though – she wasn't going to risk Snowowl's wrath just because she was nervous. She headed to the bath quickly, so that she wouldn't show up stinky and sweaty from weapons training. She skipped the hot baths, though, no time for languishing – and headed off to the practice room.

She found Whitestar already there, and Snowowl waiting for her – apparently she was a bit late. She smiled at Whitestar – and even caught herself winking at her. Whitestar relaxed and smiled back; it seemed she had been worried that Taia would be talked out of her budding relationship by Brandi, and was relieved that this was not going to be the case.

"Well," said Snowowl. "Let's get started, shall we?"

Taia took her place seated next to Whitestar.

"Link minds," Snowowl said. "It is time for Taia to learn to access the Heartstone."

Taia gasped, surprised; only Tale'edras were allowed to use the Heartstone of a Vale. She was Shin'a'in.

"But…" she said.

"No 'buts'," said Snowowl. "You are Shin'a'in, cousin to the Tale'edras, trained in mage craft by the Tale'edras, and living in a Tale'edras Vale. You have as much right to the Heartstone as any of us, and you need to learn to use it – and it needs to be able to recognize you."

"A stone? Can recognize a person?"

"The Heartstone has a shield on it that is linked to every Tale'edras in the Vale. Only those who are recognized by that shield can use it," explained Snowowl.

"Oh," Taia said, rather lamely.

She turned to Whitestar and held up her hands to link – it was still easier to link with physical contact present. Whitestar took her hands, and they both felt the near-electric charge that went through them at the touch. They linked minds – and this time, neither took care to shield the other from their thoughts or feelings. Each could feel the intensity of the other's nervousness and excitement about the other, and it surprised them both. Their mental link wavered, but they were able to stabilize and maintain it.

"Whitestar, please initiate a connection to the Heartstone. Taia, you watch what she does and follow," said Snowowl. There was the hint of a raised eyebrow to his voice, but both girls were too busy focusing on their task to pay much heed to it. Whitestar extended her mind to what looked to Taia like a bright, white light. Taia watched as Whitestar linked herself to the light – the Heartstone – in much the same way the girls were linked to each other. Taia reached out with her mind towards the Heartstone and experienced a kind of hesitancy on its part; that must be the shield, she thought. She waited patiently for some kind of sign that she should proceed – or more likely, she thought, a forceful rejection – and the hesitancy melted away. She linked that part of her mind that she had extended to the power of the Heartstone as she had seen Whitestar do – and was amazed by its power. She was beginning to become overwhelmed when she heard Snowowl tell them both to disengage, and gladly did so.

"Good," said Snowowl. "That was an excellent first connection. Now, not every Tale'edras mage can access the Heartstone. Journeyman level mages cannot, they can only access the ley lines leading to it – and ONLY the ones leading to the Heartstone. You have heard Whitestar speak of being an Adept-level healer. She is, as you know, also a mage. Adept mages, once trained, can access nodes of magic – this you know. But I don't think I've ever adequately explained what that means. Magic travels throughout the land much like rivers and lakes. Rivers flow into lakes, where the water is more concentrated – likewise, ley lines feed into nodes, where the magic is more concentrated – deeper, wilder, and less controlled than the ley line, which has a direction and a current.

"A Journeyman-level mage only has access to the energy he has within himself – he does not have the power to access a ley line, let alone a node. A Master-level mage can access the ley line, but cannot handle the raw power of a node. This does not indicate a level of skill – always remember, no matter what level of mage a person is, a skilled and clever Journeyman can defeat the most powerful but lazy Adept. The ranking is a matter of power, not skill. It is true that the unskilled Adept can likely stumble around enough spells to outlast the energy level of a Journeyman, but there have been several Journeymen level mages – and healers – that have proven indispensable in times of need. Here, they also provide a support for the Adept mages so that every job is done by those most suited for it – and nothing is wasted.

"Now. The difference between the Heartstone and a regular node is that the magic contained in the Heartstone is partially 'tamed'. Therefore, it is more similar to the power you will find in a ley line than to a node; please do not think you are ready, either of you, to handle a node. Whitestar has developed skill with the Heartstone and has been able to successfully utilize the magic of a ley line, but she has not yet progressed to the level needed to handle the node. She will – as will you, young Shin'a'in. But for now, we will continue to work with the Heartstone, until you gain confidence and skill. Only then will you be allowed to progress to the use of actual ley lines – and finally, a node."

Taia thought this over. She was already reeling from the power of the Heartstone – if Snowowl said she would develop skill and confidence with it, she believed him. How that would ever happen without her head starting on fire, she would have to wait and see.

"Now," said Snowowl, with the slightest of smiles in the corner of his mouth and a suspicious glint in his eye, "When were you going to tell me you were lifebonded?"

Taia's jaw dropped. Whitestar looked similarly shocked, and croaked – "Lifebonded? We're lifebonded?"

Snowowl laughed. "You didn't realize it yet? Yes, yes you are lifebonded. Now, do either of you know what that means?"

They both shook their heads. Taia had heard of it in the ballads, but never knew it was a real thing; Whitestar had heard of it a few times, but never thought about what it really meant.

"Ah ha. Ok. Well – you're in good company. No one really knows where it comes from – the Goddess, I imagine – but a lifebond means, basically, exactly what it says. Have either of you noticed that you just know what the other is thinking or feeling, without asking, without using your Gift, and maybe even without realizing you knew it?" Snowowl asked.

"Um…..I guess I just thought I needed to work on my shields," said Taia.

"I didn't really notice….until recently. I thought I felt something when she first arrived – but figured I was just excited about a new person in the Vale," said Whitestar.

Taia remembered now, the feeling that Whitestar was somehow familiar even though she had never seen her before, and said so.

"Yes, yes. That is a lifebond. They often form suddenly, on first sight; but are not recognized as such for some time. It seems to be a soul-level bond, where two people are actually bonded together by a magical thread – perhaps the twining of the two souls into one, if you want to get romantic about it – and through this bond, you share your emotions, your thoughts, you feel what the other feels, all the time. I am told you can learn to shield each other out, should you ever desire to; but you cannot do so without the other one immediately feeling the blankness where her sense of 'you' would be, and from what I am told the experience is not pleasant.

"There are many benefits to a lifebond; you are never alone. You have a person who loves you without question, who always understands exactly how you feel – because she will feel it, too. Should you ever fight, you will learn quickly not to say things that would hurt the other, even in anger, because you will feel their pain as if it was your own; but you will also feel her joy. However – there is also a downside."

Taia wasn't sure that the downside hadn't already been mentioned. She had already experienced having people in her head all the time – and as much as she loved – loved? Did she love her? – Whitestar, she wasn't sure she wanted her to be aware of every passing thought, every passing feeling, for all their lives.

"Can…..can it be broken?" she asked. Whitestar looked horrified, but remained silent.

"No one has ever discovered how, if it can. I would not recommend trying it, because of the downside I was about to tell you about. It is called a lifebond for a reason; if one of you dies, the other will soon follow, out of grief and loneliness. There has ever only been one exception to this – Herald Mage Vanyel Ashkevron, who was lifebonded to Tylendel. We have all heard of Tylendel, the Herald Mage who was repudiated by his Companion – and the only reason Vanyel survived was because he was Chosen by a Companion before he could successfully….follow Tylendel, although even with the Companion he did try. And he was never the same, he was always in grief. I am told, however, by lifebonded couples I have known, that they consider this downside to be well worth it," said Snowowl.

"Why…..why would you want to break it?" Whitestar asked, looking hurt. And Taia realized she could actually feel the fear, the feeling of rejection from Whitestar as if it were her own – and suddenly realized that Snowowl was right. This was worth it. She never wanted to be without Whitestar, she never wanted to be alone ever again, and she knew now she never would be.

"I don't," she said. "I….was a little scared about the idea of having you in my head all the time, because I remember what it was like in the Plains with all those people hammering at me; but you don't hammer. You're just there, warm, light and safe, and I don't want to be without you there ever again." Taia blushed, realizing that she had just said all that with Snowowl still there.

Whitestar grinned. Her eyes lit up, and Taia thought her heart would stop at that moment, she was so beautiful.

"Me too," said Whitestar. "I've been really lonely – despite being surrounded by Healers and Mages, even ones who don't put stock in what level a person is – I am the only one at mine. At first I was happy to just not be the only prodigy; but I never have to be alone again, at all. And I wouldn't give it up for anything. I'm glad you didn't find k'Sheyna first!"

Taia and Whitestar left their lesson, hand-in-hand – a little self-conscious about it, but nevertheless not wanting to let go. They ate dinner – neither of them noticed what they ate – and headed to the baths. This time, Taia did luxuriate in the hot bath – but not on her own. She luxuriated not only in the bath itself, but the fact that she now had the freedom to look at Whitestar's nakedness, appreciate its curves, its smoothness. She had felt it somewhat last night – but tonight she looked. Taia was a typical Shin'a'in; except for her almost-violet eyes, she strayed very little from the archetype of her people. She had tan skin, long black hair she wore braided in rows most of the time, a long-ish face despite the small-for-a-Shin'a'in-nose. Her body was well-muscled body from riding horseback and weapons training; she had the beginnings of what would be generous breasts and just the slightest curve to her hips. Whitestar was pale; her blonde hair reached just past her shoulders with the smallest wave, and her eyes were bright grreen. She was slender, with small beginnings of a chest and a soft curve to her hips. Together, they were almost opposites. She thought their bodies looked lovely wrapped up in each other – and said so to Whitestar.

Whitestar grinned. "Let's get out of this bath and back to the ekele – and try it more completely," she said.

Taia was a little shocked, but agreed. They were young, but they were lifebonded. She didn't want to wait, what was the point? So they went back to the ekele together. When they arrived, they dropped the robes they had been wearing and reached for each other. They kissed each other, slowly but furiously, their hands exploring each other's bodies as if they had no idea what they would find.

"Drop your shields and link with me," Whitestar said. Taia did what she was told – and oh, my. Suddenly, she was awash in not just her own feelings and sensations, but Whitestar's, as well. When she kissed Whitestar she felt both of their enjoyment. When she sucked a nipple her own breath caught. They collapsed together onto a pallet – whose, it didn't matter anymore, they would never sleep separately again. That first experience, it was…..indescribable. Explosive. They fell asleep entwined, slept soundly and dreamed each other's dreams until morning.

In the morning when they woke, both were sore in places they hadn't known could get sore, had cramps in muscles that had never been used; but they were happy. They couldn't stop grinning and mooning at each other. They asked the hertasi to deliver them breakfast, because they wanted to at least make an attempt to get control of themselves before being seen in public. It was not unheard of, by any means, for teenage lovebirds to be mooning at each other in public, but Taia and Whitestar were a little bit shy and didn't want to advertise. After breakfast, they washed up quickly at the bath and headed off to mage lessons.

Snowowl was waiting – as always – and they hurried in and sat down.

"Enjoying your newfound relationship, I see," said Snowowl, with a smile. "Good. You both deserve happiness, and I am glad you found it with each other. Now. Let us continue with our lesson from yesterday. Taia, you are going to access the heartstone – on your own – and Whitestar is going to observe your technique and make certain you do so correctly."

They practiced accessing the heartstone until Taia could do so easily and without a shock to her senses. Snowowl then demonstrated, then watched as she practiced incorporating that energy into her own shields, her own spells. It was difficult, but she knew she was making good progress.

"Since you are now able to utilize the magic of the heartstone, you have passed your master-level test. Tomorrow, we will begin teaching you more specifically offensive magics, so that you will be able to aid in your own defense as well as the defense of the Vale. We are attacked, periodically, both by the magical beasts of the Pelagiris as well as other mages who wish to attempt to steal our power for themselves. In the event that this happens, we need the skills and powers of all members, and we hope that you will be willing and able to assist us," said Snowowl.

Taia thought about this. It had never occurred to her that anyone would attack the Vale; it seemed such a utopia, she couldn't imagine anything bad ever happening here. She knew the Tale'edras cleansed the Pelagiris wilds of the harmful effects left over from the Mage Wars, but that seemed so distant and unrelated to anything she was seeing here. Plus – she was Shin'a'in. Training as a mage was more necessity, curiosity, even something of a game; it had not occurred to her that she might have to use it to actually hurt someone, even in her own defense, or defense of Clan. She was used to the idea of using her physical weapons against other people, although she had never actually done so. But using her mental weapons seemed somehow different. Anyone could learn to use a sword – or a knife, or a bow – and even though she was gifted and well trained in their use, anyone could defeat her if they used them well. But mind magic? Real magic? Not everyone had access to that, or could defend against it. And that didn't seem honorable or fair to her. She would use whatever means at her disposal in defense of herself or of Whitestar, but she hoped those "means" would be more physical than mental.

"I don't know how I feel about that," said Taia. "I mean, the mage beasts, the magic cleansing – of course I'll help with that. And if it's an actual mage that attacks the Vale, then I can respond in kind. But I don't think it's fair to use magic against people with no gifts. Particularly since I CAN use physical weapons. I guess…it would feel like stepping on an ant. The ant is the strongest insect there is – but he's no match against people. We have weapons they have no defense against. That's kind of like mages and the unGifted, right? They can't defend against mage Gift. So it's not fair to use it against them."

"You," said Snowowl, "are going to make an excellent Tale'edras mage. Those are exactly the kinds of morals that make you a Tale'edras mage – and not one of the evil ones that might attack us in the first place."

Taia was relieved. She had been afraid that any hesitance on her part to defend the Vale with magic at any cost would result in rejection from the Vale, but instead the opposite was true. So maybe she really could make a home here, with these people; they weren't Shin'a'in, but they were cousins. It wasn't the Plains, but they had the same Goddess, the same basic beliefs, a similar language that had once been one language, one people. She could feel at home here. After all, Whitestar was here – and Whitestar WAS her home. No matter where she went, Whitestar would be there, and she would always be home.

After mage lessons, the girls went to lunch as usual. Afterwards, Whitestar went to her healing lessons and Taia went to weapons training with Brandi. Brandi would be leaving soon; there was only a moon left until it was time for her to go back to Wolf Clan, back to Jacqui. Taia would miss her terribly; Brandi was the only connection she had to the Clans, to her own people, but more than that she was the only family she had that she still talked to – and she was Taia's hero. She had rescued Taia from an untenable situation at home, taken her to safety where she could be trained and shielded. She helped her cope with the loss of her home and the adjustment to another, the acceptance of being she'chorne and the relationship with Whitestar. She had maintained Taia's weapons training and helped her maintain also a sense of her own identity, and she had stayed – for a whole year – just to make sure Taia was settled and happy. As far as Taia was concerned, Brandi had saved her life, and several times over.

"I have arranged for you to continue training with some of the scouts," Brandi said. "They will be joining us in the next couple of days so that you can get to know them. I have also arranged, you will be surprised to hear, for you to learn some skirmish and assassination techniques from some of the hertasi. They might have an arrangement for the Tale'edras to primarily defend them and provide the protection of the Vale in exchange for housekeeping duties; but some of them are sheer geniuses with throwing knives and hand to hand combat."

"Thank you," said Taia. "That sounds fascinating, actually. I know the Shin'a'in learn and teach a lot of skills, but they can't fight with every possible style. It will be wonderful to learn something completely fresh."

"I was hoping you would say that, since you've already learned everything I can teach you. All we're doing between the two of us is practice what you already know!" said Brandi, who was a formidable fighter in her own right.

That was true. Practicing skills built muscle memory, but the Shin'a'in didn't just drill in the physical training of combat. They taught the mental discipline, as well, and battle tactics. Every new warrior panicked at the first battle; it is all well and good to train in the theory that you are preparing to slice through another person's body with the intent to kill them, and risk your own painful and gory death in the process. It is an entirely different thing to actually do so, and to face the prospect of that death for yourself. Muscle memory helped to block out that reality until a person had time to process it; a warrior could simply react to the onslaught of enemy weapons, not think about what he or she was doing with his own, or what the consequence of failure was likely to be. And so Taia practiced with sincere discipline; she never wanted her failure in battle to be for lack of skill or adequate preparation. If someone was going to defeat her, they were going to have to earn it. She was Shin'a'in, after all. They don't go down easily, and they don't die on their knees.

After her practice, she and Brandi met Whitestar at the kitchens for dinner, followed by the baths as usual. Afterwards, instead of going their separate ways they decided to put on clean clothes and walk around the Vale; there was a feast to attend. They arrived at the common area – a wide, open space with several stages placed where the _tervardi_ were singing. _Tervardi_ were a bird-like people, another magical creation of Urtho – kind of a hybrid bird-human race. Urtho hadn't liked to make war, he liked to create life; creatures with the intelligence of humans but often the appearance of something completely different. Among those were the hertasi, the _kyree_ – a wolf-like race – the _dyheli_ , which resembled large elk and often provided transportation for the Tale'edras in exchange for protection and grazing land – the _tervardi_ , and the gryphons, which he considered his masterpiece. Taia had never met a gryphon or a _kyree_ , and had only seen _dyheli_ from a distance. She had also heard of something called a _ratha_ – the catlike version of a _kyree_ – but no one she knew had ever seen one, and she wasn't certain they still existed. _Kyree_ lived on the Plains, but she hadn't done a lot of travel in between Clans and had not had the opportunity to meet them.

Taia, Brandi and Whitestar mingled among the Tale'edras, eating the hors d'oevres and drinking the wine. They listened to the singing and enjoyed the multi-colored mage lights that were set strategically and decoratively around the feast.

"Congratulations on your master level achievement," said Lightwind, the first person Taia had met on arriving at k'Treva Vale. "I hear you've also discovered a lifebond, and congratulations on that, as well."

"Thank you," said Taia. "It's all been very fast, but I'm glad to have found some control and especially shielding. I am so grateful for everything your Vale has done for me."

"Well, you're quite welcome, and we hope that by now you consider it your Vale, as well," said Lightwind. "In fact, that's one of the things I wanted to talk with you about. We were hoping you would allow us to adopt you, and make you a full member of k'Treva."

Taia was shocked. She had never considered this. She was Shin'a'in, she loved her heritage – but she could never return to the Plains. She had her horses, and enough stock from Brandi's trips back and forth to start her own herd – but that wasn't a Clan. She wasn't sure what it would mean to be adopted by the Tale'edras; would she have to give up her horses? Would she have to give up her weapons training? Would she need to change her name, to something more Tale'edras-sounding? Would she need a bondbird? She liked Tyke well enough, but he was bonded to Whitestar. What would it be like to be bonded to a bird? And most importantly, would she still be Shin'a'in?

"In answer to what I'm sure you're wondering, you can be both Tale'edras and Shin'a'in – your title will just be longer. Instead of being Taia shena'Pretera'sedrin, you would be Taia shena'Pretera'sedrin k'Treva. Not too much longer!" said Lightwind. "Nothing else need change, save that you would be fully accepted as a member of the Vale, and therefore also welcome in any other Vale. You could, if you chose, ascend to become an Elder of the Vale. But mostly, we would be your family, and you would be ours."

Taia teared up. She missed having a family, and as much as she loved Brandi and Whitestar – she was used to being surrounded by a Clan, and she missed it. She would become a full member of k'Treva, she would be adopted by this Vale. She might even enlist Brandi's help in adopting Whitestar as Shin'a'in, so that they could both belong to both peoples – that was something she'd have to discuss with Brandi, she wasn't sure what that entailed. But she would become Tale'edras, and gladly. She might even take one of those bondbirds.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter five**

"How would I go about adopting Whitestar as a Shin'a'in?" Taia asked Brandi. This was a day off of all lessons, all work. All members of k'Treva were spending the day relaxing, catching up on their social lives, or on whatever personal chores they needed to take care of, but official business was discouraged. Tale'edras – and Shin'a'in – took their work seriously, and their rest just as seriously.

"I mean, I haven't even talked to her about whether or not she wants to, but they are adopting me as a full member of k'Treva; I want to make her Shin'a'in, too."

"It is as simple as her taking the oath of she'enedra," Brandi said. "Like Kethryveris, the mage who swore the oath to Tarma shena'Talesedrin, in order to be mother to that clan and save it from extinction after the massacre. But it would need to happen in front of witnesses, so it needs to be done while I am still here."

"I'm sure that will be easy enough, we still have a few sennights. I thought that in order to signify her Clan membership, I should make her a talisman. Do you have any silver I could use? I have a little….." Taia said. Silversmithing was another one of the Shin'a'in arts, as they often made their own weaponry and armor as well as jewelry. Taia hadn't had a lot of practice in any of them, but she knew the basics.

"That is an excellent idea," said Brandi. "That way, should she ever need to, she can come to the Plains and be identified as Clan-sib, and welcomed, whether or not you are with her."

This was particularly beneficial; since the Shin'a'in were oath-bound to defend the Plains and its contents; visitors not happening to be Shin'a'in themselves had a tendency to be killed first, and asked questions later. The sisters pooled their unused silver, and Taia got to work making a design. The first thing to do was to melt down the silver; Taia took a metal bowl and placed the silver in it. She suspended that bowl over the fire and built it up. It would take quite a bit of heat to melt the silver; she would spend that time on the design. She could use magic to speed the process, but seeing as she was making a talisman to signify membership in a Shin'a'in Clan, a people who did not use magic, she decided that would be inappropriate. She would make it the Shin'a'in way.

She began to draw a design for the talisman; she chose an image of a grass-cat, the totem of her clan, entwined with an eagle to symbolize the Tale'edras and the fact that Whitestar would be both Shin'a'in and Tale'edras, as Taia herself would be. She then took a piece of hard wood and carved the image in relief, which was harder than she thought it would be; this was just as well, for by the time she finished the silver was melted. She took the bowl off of the fire and poured the contents into the wooden mold, then placed that over a bowl of cold water to cool it quickly. She put a small stick of wood through the top of the image in a space left empty for the purpose through which to thread the chain. When the silver was cool enough, but not completely set, she took it from the mold and perfected the image with her knife. It turned out very well; Taia was pleased, and thought Whitestar would be, as well. She polished the silver to a shine, and threaded a piece of leather through the hole and tied it into a necklace.

When she returned to the ekele, having spent some quality time with Brandi discussing the particulars of her continued training, Brandi's return home and the Shin'a'in adoption ceremony for Whitestar – Taia would have to give her a Shin'a'in name, which would take some time to decide on – Whitestar was waiting for her. She had spent the day with her brother, outside the Vale, catching up and renewing her tree-running abilities. Him being a scout on the outside of the Vale and Whitestar being a prodigy Healer Mage student, they didn't get a lot of time to spend together, and Whitestar didn't get a lot of time to maintain her physical skills. But one other thing had happened; Whitestar encountered a nest of bondbird eaglets and bonded to one. She now had two bondbirds – Tyke, the forestgyre, and a fuzzy female eaglet named Syen. The eaglet wouldn't be old enough to leave the nest for some time, but she sure was cute.

"Would you like a bondbird?" Whitestar asked. "Once you are fully adopted into the Vale, you are allowed to choose one."

"I think I would, actually. If I'm going to be Tale'edras, I want to go all the way, not half, and all Tale'edras have bondbirds. So I should as well," Taia answered. "But there's something else I wanted to ask you. I would like to adopt you also as Shin'a'in. While Brandi is still here, it can be done – if you want – all it requires is for you to swear a she'enedra oath with a witness, which would be Brandi. Will you?"

"What does this oath entail? What exactly would I be swearing to?" Whitestar asked; a valid question.

"I don't think it's anything you wouldn't do willingly anyway," Taia answered. "It states that you regard Shin'a'in as family, you are bound to defend the Plains with any power at your disposal should they be attacked, and any child you bear should be raised Shin'a'in. If we had or adopted any, they would certainly be raised Tale'edras, as well."

"Well, I suppose the Shin'a'in are already my family, since they're cousins to Tale'edras in the first place and I'm lifebonded to you; the defense is a little worrisome, only because I don't know how I feel about going to war, but I suppose you'd be there defending the Plains anyway so I'd be at your side," Whitestar said. Taia nodded; she would certainly be going to war against anyone attacking her people. "And well, I'm extremely unlikely to bear children, so that last one is kind of moot! So yes – yes, I agree."

Taia grinned. "Good. I made you this, today, in preparation for the ceremony – it seems even more fitting with your bonding with Syen." Taia handed her the talisman, and Whitestar was visibly surprised and pleased.

"There's one other thing," Taia said. "I will give you a Shin'a'in name. You are not required to use it, but I will give you one. If you ever do enter the Plains, that is the name you should give; when Brandi returns home, that is the name she will add to the census. If you were to introduce yourself as Whitestar, you would not necessarily be recognized."

"That is fair – I will be giving you a Tale'edras name, as well, with similar conditions – although you never have to use it, even should you visit a different Vale. It might help, however, should you do so," said Whitestar.

Taia wondered briefly what name Whitestar would give her, but didn't spend too much time on it; she had enough with trying to find an appropriate Shin'a'in name, she didn't have the energy to worry what name Whitestar would choose! She was leaning towards something ancient, not common, that would signify their relationship. She was thinking Ale'shaya – meaning my beloved – would be perfect. But she would not reveal the name until the ceremony. She had intended to save the necklace for it as well, but she never was good at keeping presents longer than necessary; she was always too excited to see the person's reaction to them.

"When is this ceremony going to take place?" she asked.

"We were thinking in a sennight. There will be another feast – oh, don't say no, even if we don't want one it wouldn't be fair to take it away from the hertasi. They love planning feasts and parties. And Brandi is set to leave the following morning, no? That will also serve as her send off. She will always be welcome here as Wingsib; not a full Tale'edras, but welcome to visit whenever she likes and entitled to assistance by the Vale should she request it," said Whitestar.

Taia was glad. Brandi deserved some recognition for all she had done; also, this would keep the door open for Brandi to visit, as Taia was unlikely to be able to visit the Plains. She was sure she wouldn't be allowed to visit her own Clan; besides being a mage, she was she'chorne, and that was not acceptable as long as her shaman was there. She wasn't sure about Wolf Clan, though; she would have to ask Brandi. However, she was not sure she should; she missed the Plains too much. She wasn't sure, if she went back, that she would ever leave; and then all of her mage training would be for naught. She couldn't use the magic on the Plains, it was forbidden. And she had promised Brandi that she would use the Gifts the Goddess had seen fit to give her to the best of her ability. Maybe someday she would be strong enough to go back, and only visit – but this was not someday. This was today.

The sennight went by quickly. The days were standard – morning mage lessons, then lunch, afterwards weapons training – Whitestar's brother Greyhawk was there, now, helping Taia make the transition for when Brandi would no longer be there. He was teaching her the Tale'edras tree-running skills, assassination techniques, and different knife and shortsword techniques, even different bow exercises. Tale'edras didn't use swords very often, so that much Taia would need to work out a practice routine on her own; Brandi was unable to find a suitable instructor within range. Greyhawk was very good – Taia was lucky to have him as an instructor. She enjoyed learning new styles; the Shin'a'in taught as many styles as they knew, but nobody could know every style ever developed. Nonetheless, they taught that the more styles a person knew, the more likely one of them would be the appropriate style with which to defeat an opponent. Therefore, the more you know, the more likely you are to survive the battle.

The day of the adoption ceremony arrived. Taia was given beautiful robes of deep purple and blue. She did her hair up in a complicated style that was part Shin'a'in, part Tale'edras. Whitestar, for her part, was dressed in robes of greens and blues, and wore a similar hairstyle. The cut of their robes was identical – part Shin'a'in, part Tale'edras. The purpose was obvious; each girl was going to be a full member of two peoples. Their appearance should reflect that.

They walked to the same courtyard that had held the party the sennight prior. There were flowers and ribbons hanging from every branch, every lightpost. Mage lights of every color danced along the path and some overhead. The _tervardi_ were singing. All the Tale'edras were present, even the scouts; that came as a surprise. Brandi was dressed in her best Shin'a'in leathers, grinning ear to ear. Taia and Whitestar were welcomed to the party with smiles and applause. They were ushered to a fountain, where there was a small table set up with candles and ceremonial knives arranged on it. Lightwind was there; she would be performing the ceremony. She was dressed in white robes, to match the white cloth on the table and the white wrappings on the knives and the candle sticks.

"Welcome," said Lightwind. "We are here today to welcome young Taia as a full member of k'Treva Vale, and also so that her lifebonded partner, our own Whitestar, can be adopted into the Shin'a'in Clan Pretera'sedrin. Both girls will take the vows of their people to accept the responsibilities that come with the bonds of family which Clan and Vale provide."

"Taia shena Pretera'sedrin, we the k'Treva Vale of the Tale'edras welcome you into our family. Should you accept our welcome and the bonds of family that we offer to you freely, you will enjoy the rights to live in any Tale'edras Vale you choose. You will enjoy the benefit of the full defense of the Tale'edras people should you ever require it. You will be eligible to serve as Elder and Teacher should you so desire. You will offer us in return your full measure of support and defense of the Tale'edras people and its allies should we require it. You will offer us your full range of talents in the service of the Tale'edras and of the Vale. What say you?"

"I accept these rights and responsibilities with gratitude and love," said Taia. She added the love part – but it seemed appropriate. These people were becoming her family; she would offer them love.

"Then we accept you into our Vale, Taia shena'pretera'sedrin k'Treva, with joy – and also with love," Lightwind said, with a smile and a sparkle in her eye.

Her ceremony was over; Whitestar completed the adoption with a surprise of her own. It seemed the silversmithing practice was one art the peoples shared in common from their ancestors, the Kaled'a'in; Whitestar presented her with a talisman on a leather string, a horse and a cat with a single pair of wings sprouting from them, carrying them off into battle. It was beautiful. Taia bent her head to accept the talisman.

"I name you, Rainfire," Whitestar said. Taia approved – strong, like fire, but soft and nurturing, like rain.

Now Brandi replaced Lightwind behind the table.

"Whitestar k'Treva, the Shin'a'in Clan Pretera'sedrin welcome you to the Shin'a'in people," said Brandi. "We offer you safe passage through the Plains, respite with any of the Shin'a'in Clans, and the full defense of the Shin'a'in people should you require it. We offer you the right to live among us. We offer you the right to serve as Elder should you so desire. Should you accept this offer, you offer in return your full measure of the defense of the Shin'a'in people. What say you?"

"I swear the she'enedra oath to the Pretera'sedrin people of the Dhorisha Plains. I swear allegiance and family bond to the Shin'a'in people. I do so of my own free will and with my full devotion," said Whitestar.

Taia placed the eagle-cat talisman around Whitestar's neck. "I name you Ale'shaya," she said.

"Hold out your arms," Brandi said.

Taia held out her right arm, Whitestar her left. Taia had only told Whitestar of this part of the ceremony the night before – Whitestar was a little nervous. Brandi picked up the knives one in each hand, and with one deft movement cut their arms swiftly. Taia didn't flinch – having practiced weapons work for so many years, this was hardly the first time she'd been cut. Whitestar only squinted her eyes a bit; the knives were so sharp it was a very smooth cut, not jagged – those hurt more. Taia placed her bleeding arm over Whitestar's so that the blood would comingle while Brandi quickly tied their arms together with the cloths on the table placed for that purpose. It was done so quickly that the blood didn't even have time to drip onto the table or even down their arms; the cloth was tied in such a manner that the blood didn't drip at all. Brandi lifted their arms high, displaying their clasped hands.

"I declare you Whitestar k'Treva Pretera'sedrin, she'enedra to the Shin'a'in, and a member of the Plains people," said Brandi.

The ceremony was complete – there was only the party left to have, which all participated in happily and with enthusiasm. After all, there was cake.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter six**

The days progressed, much as they had before; but without Brandi there. She had left as planned the morning after the adoption ceremony. Taia had hugged her tight and thanked her profusely for staying as long as she did, and bid her to thank Jacqui as well. Brandi promised to visit; after all, the distance between the Dhorisha Plains and k'Treva Vale wasn't prohibitive, and Taia would need new breeding stock from time to time to maintain her little herd – and Brandi was off. The Shin'a'in loved each other fiercely, but were stoic in their expression of it.

Taia progressed in her Mage studies; even her Fetching and Firestarting were getting easier, although they still did give her trouble. She had learned not only to access and utilize the Heartstone, but also the ley lines. She was nowhere near accessing the actual nodes, that wouldn't be for another year or two. She was making good progress with learning Tale'edras-style fighting from Greyhawk. The tree-running was a little bit beyond her; she tried, and was making progress, but it was slow – and painful, as many of her failures resulted in falls with rather hard landings. However, she was not prepared for the next adventure in her weapons training by any stretch of the imagination.

"I want to learn to use weapons," said Whitestar, "and I want you to teach me."

Taia was shocked. It hadn't occurred to her that Whitestar would ever want to touch a sword, or that she would be called upon to teach – anyone.

"Why?" asked Taia. "You're a mage. Tale'edras mages don't wield swords."

"I have just been adopted as a Shin'a'in," said Whitestar. "Shin'a'in DO wield swords. Besides, as an adopted Shin'a'in, mage or not I am required to aid in the defense of the Plains – and I am not allowed to use magic to do so."

That was an excellent point. Whitestar, though she was primarily a Tale'edras Healing Adept, if she were ever called upon to assist in the defense of the Plains would be forbidden to use magic to do so. Healing, she could use – but not any other Gift. Taia herself would be so forbidden, as well. It was the Shin'a'in way; their Goddess required them to do everything they possibly could to fulfill their vow, and anything more than that they trusted in Her to accomplish. If they attempted to break their vow by using magic on the Plains – even in the service of defending Urtho's weapons – then they had no right to ask for Her assistance, and it would likely not be granted.

"Ok," Taia said. "I will train you. How about in the mornings, we have our combined mage lessons as always – it wouldn't be fair to alter Snowowl's schedule – and afterwards, before lunch, I will train you. After lunch, I will have my lessons with the scouts, as usual, and you will have your Healing lessons, as usual – only instead of going straight to dinner, I will spar with you. After dinner we will go horseback riding – yes, on actual horses – in order for you to learn that skill as well. Then – the baths. Our days will be busier, but it's not impossible."

"That sounds quite doable," said Whitestar. "We will be pleasantly exhausted every day, but I hope to become a good Shin'a'in!"

"And I hope to become a good Tale'edras," Taia said. "Speaking of which, how do I go about getting one of these bondbirds? And do you think I should, or that I'm ready for it? And what type?"

Whitestar laughed. "If you think you're ready, you're ready. I will inquire as to what types of birds are hatching or looking for someone to bond with, and you decide between that bunch what sounds appealing. I think a raptor of some kind would suit you – I mean, you're a warrior. It wouldn't be right to bond with, say, a crow or a sunbird," she said.

And so it was settled. The next morning, they had breakfast as planned and went to their joint mage lesson; afterwards, Taia set Whitestar to swinging a sword at a tree stump – much the same way Taia herself had started. The purpose was not to develop any sort of actual skill at hitting a target; the purpose was to get used to the weight of the sword and develop the muscles required to wield it. After this, Whitestar was then set to shooting a bow at a target; she was actually quite good. When she was completely exhausted, the girls went to lunch; afterwards, they separated for their individual lessons – Taia to weaponry, Whitestar to magery. As it turned out, the instructors wished for Taia to increase her time on individualized mage lessons, so their reunion afterwards was later than planned; however, Taia kept her promise and spent some time sparring with Whitestar – very beginner level, as Whitestar still wasn't even used to the sword. This was mostly to get used to the idea of using the sword to defend against attack, to build the reflex. After this they had a most-welcome dinner, followed by horseback riding outside the Vale – Whitestar hadn't been outside the Vale in quite some time, so it was quite exciting – both the ride, which Whitestar had never done before at all, and the trip, since it was like seeing everything new all over again. Following this they nearly fell asleep in the baths, but managed to crawl back to their ekele and collapse.

Their routine mostly followed this pattern; lessons all day, then a ride – which was also part lesson for Whitestar, but also just free enjoyment of fresh air, a change of scenery and a change from the Vale – and baths. Both girls were so tired by the end of each day they hardly had time for anything else. Once a sennight, however, the Tale'edras practiced the day of rest – no lessons, except what Taia and Whitestar agreed to hold with each other. On the first of these, Whitestar took Taia to a very large tree with an unusual looking ekele. They climbed into the ekele, and found that it was full of nests; several of these nests had baby bondbirds in them. Taia was amazed – they were beautiful. She had thought about what kind of bondbird she should choose; she was torn. She agreed that she should bond to a raptor of some sort – it fit her warrior nature. However, she also felt that she should choose a bird that would provide adequate scouting assistance for her; that was what she thought would be primarily helpful in a bondmate, not having ever had one before. She was trained as a warrior primarily, and thought very much in those terms. An owl-eagle would suit her need for size and raptor, and be particularly useful as a night-scout; a hawk-eagle would suit those same purposes, but be a useful day-scout. Either would provide excellent assistance in hunting, should she need it, and both were intelligent enough for her to be able to communicate with. They were also each large enough and strong enough to assist in battle, so the only thing to really differentiate the two were the night- versus day-scouting duties; since they were equally valuable, she had a hard time deciding between the two.

In the end, she didn't decide between the two, as a representative from each species' nest made their way towards her and decided they would share her. As it turns out, it isn't the Tale'edras that chooses the bondbird; it is the bondbird – or birds – that choose the Tale'edras.

 _:You. You will be my bondmate. I am Sera:_ came a voice in her head, from a determined looking little owl-eagle. Taia could almost not stop herself from laughing at the fuzzy little owl-eaglet trying to pull herself up to be bigger and more regal than a baby owl-eaglet could possibly be.

 _:Mine. She will be mine. I am Ryki:_ said an equally determined, and equally fuzzy, hawk-eagle, almost as a challenge to the first.

For a moment, Taia thought they would actually fight, and she wasn't sure what she should do if that happened. There was a sensation of buzzing as the birds stared at each other, their fuzzy little baby feathers all puffed out in each bird's attempt to look bigger and more grown-up than either actually was. It seemed to Taia that they were actually mindspeaking each other – and it turned out that she was right, for the buzzing stopped and they looked at her in unison and said - _:We will share. You shall be ours:_

She went home that night the proud new bondmate of a hawk-eaglet named Ryki and an owl-eaglet named Sera. There seemed to be a slight presence in the back of her head from each bird – similar to the presence in her head that was Whitestar, only smaller and not as strong. She imagined it would get stronger as the bond grew, and as the birds did – but for now, she was a little bit overwhelmed. She had anticipated bonding with one bird or another – but not two. Still, she was happy. They were still babies – she had time to get used to the idea. She was a real Tale'edras, now.

Taia and Whitestar continued this way for three years. Both became proficient at mage craft – and Whitestar at healing – and both became proficient at weaponry and tree running, although Whitestar would always be better in the trees than Taia and Taia would always be better with a sword. Whitestar proved surprisingly gifted at the short sword, and took to horseback riding with ease, learning the particulars of Shin'a'in steeds and commands – she said they were more comfortable than _dyheli_ and almost as intelligent. Taia had only glimpsed the _dyheli_ , who had been graciously hosting the horses for all this time in exchange for their added abilities to defend the field. Shin'a'in horses were superbly well trained in battle – particularly the battlemares, but Taia didn't have one of those – and would not allow any creature, human or animal, to threaten their herd. Taia commanded the horses to treat the _dyheli_ as their herd, and therefore the _dyheli_ , able fighters themselves, were as safe from attack as if they had been on the Plains.

Taia's bond with Ryki and Sera – as well as the bond with Whitestar – grew. She often took the birds outside the Vale on the off-days in particular and set them to scouting and even hunting for her; she and Whitestar enjoyed their days of freedom away from the Vale as much as possible, foraging for themselves and just having no lessons and no responsibilities for a day. They would leave at daybreak, go get the horses and ride out until they found a place to stop and get water, then make a fire and make love under a tree while the four bondbirds hunted and played. They would cook whatever the birds caught over an open fire and eat lunch. Then they'd ride some more, find another spot to rest and eat and only ride back in time to fall into bed. They often talked about just riding off, but they had to finish their lessons first, and then they had to put in some time serving the purpose of the Vale and cleansing the surrounding area of the wild magic left by the Mage Wars. And then one day – their lessons were completed.

Both girls were Adept-class mages, Whitestar a Healing Adept. Both girls had had as much training in their Mind Magic as was possible to have. They had learned every fighting skill the Vale had at their disposal to teach them – and much to Taia's surprise, some of the Leshya'e Kal'enedral had come to teach them, as well. These were the spirits of the previous Swordsworn that appeared usually only to train the living Swordsworn in special weapons training. Taia was not Swordsworn, but as the Leshya'e explained, her twin was – and apparently, Kiri had asked for Taia to receive specialized training as well, as Kiri knew how talented Taia was as well as how much Taia would enjoy it – and Kiri felt guilty for how Taia had been treated by both the Clan and herself when she was afflicted with the Mage Gift. Taia held no ill-will for her sister, but was not about to turn away the training. The only downside was that the Leshya'e only arrived at night, and not predictably – so they only arrived after Taia had already had a full day of training! Whitestar was not privy to these special lessons, as Kiri had made the deal with the Star-Eyed upon making her oath as a Kal'enedral and didn't know about Whitestar; it was extremely unlikely that the Leshya'e would have gone along with training a Tale'edras, cousins or no. It was extremely unusual that they would be willing to train Taia, who was not Kal'enedral. However, there was no rule that Taia couldn't teach Whitestar everything she had learned, and she did.

The end result was that both girls – they were hardly girls anymore, they were almost eighteen – were exquisitely trained in both magecraft and weaponry. But they had no outlet for the latter. For mage work, they had the cleansing of the lands, which they both found rather….. tedious. There was the occasional excitement of a mage invader or even a wyrsa pack or cold-drake to fight off, but those were uncommon – thankfully, really, but it left for a lot of repetitive days. Taia was beginning to feel constrained; she didn't say anything, but she knew Whitestar knew. They were lifebonded; one couldn't sneeze without the other feeling relief. Whitestar had never contemplated leaving her Vale, and certainly never really thought about using her skills for anything other than the cleansing of the land; so they were at a bit of an impasse. Taia wanted to leave, to spread her wings and see what she could do; Whitestar was happy to stay put. They began returning from their weekly outings later and later, and leaving for them earlier and earlier, until finally, they decided to just take a sennight and travel around. They were done with their classes – there was nothing more even the Tale'edras mages and Healers could teach them – and had no real responsibilities. So they packed up supplies for a trip and loaded it up on a third horse, one which was also equipped with two pommels for the bondbirds to ride on should they choose to (Sera, in particular, being half owl, preferred to sleep during at least part of the day, and sometimes the others just needed a rest) and left the Vale.

They rode with no intention. They had no planned destination, and no time they had to be there. They just picked a direction and went in it. Fully armed – they didn't know what they would encounter, so it was best to be prepared – although to look at them, no one would be able to tell it. Shin'a'in were very good at disguising their weapons; each of them had two swords in sheaths at their backs, throwing knives along each forearm with the handles at the elbow, shortswords at their thighs and fighting knives in their boots. They also had their bows and arrows slung around their saddles – but those were the only obvious weapons. Put together with the bondbirds – a hawk-eagle, an owl-eagle, a forestgyre and an actual eagle, they were a formidable group, without even taking into account the fighting abilities of all three horses (the pack horse would fight regardless of whether or not someone was riding her) and their Gifts. Anyone choosing to attack what at first glance appeared to be two young women riding around on horses would be in for a surprise, indeed.

And on the third day, halfway through their rambling vacation, there was a small band of bandits that was, in fact, so surprised. They were out riding at about midday, getting ready to find a place to stop and eat when six poorly-armed men ran out from the nearby trees to attack them. Taia and Whitestar got one each with their bows before they got too close, non-fatal hits; the bondbirds kept the two injured men unable to cause further damage. The remaining four were taken out by throwing knives and the sword – and it was over quickly. The six men lay on the ground, none of them yet dead but most of them well on their way. The girls stayed on their horses for a minute, uninjured but shaken. They had both hunted, they had practiced with all of their weapons until they were highly skilled with all of them – but neither of them had actually used them against an actual human target before.

Taia was torn between being proud of her accomplishment, happy that the reflexes had kicked in, and disgusted by what she had done. Whitestar was torn between all of those things, plus the Healer's pull to Heal the injuries they had just inflicted. In the end, she decided to Heal them to the point that they would survive, but not so much that they could immediately attack anyone again, and leave a magical tag on them so that if and when they encountered a guard post – and they would, since if they wanted to avoid permanent disability they needed to find another Healer – their guilt would be revealed as soon as the Healer began to work on their wounds. Seeing as how the nearest Healer for miles was actually at a guardpost, the chances were good that these bandits would not be attacking anyone else any time soon.

They found a place to stop as quickly as they could. Both were quite shaken, not only because of the shock of the battle itself but also because both of them were strong empaths. Even having their shields up, they had been able to feel the shock, pain and terror as the bandits realized they were going to lose the battle and had thought they would die. The fact that they didn't die was a relief to them, and the girls felt that as well; but it was a difficult thing, nonetheless.

"Wow," said Whitestar. "I never imagined I would be fighting bandits with a sword. That was horrible, and strangely exhilarating. I mean, I'm not happy it happened, I'm not happy we had to hurt people; but they were going to kill us. I'm happy we were able to defend ourselves, and that we were able to do so without actually killing them."

"I agree," said Taia. "I'm excited to put all that training to use….and also upset that we had to. But I'm ecstatic that we didn't panic. I'm very proud that we reacted exactly as we've trained, and like you I am thrilled that we were able to disable, rather than kill them. I suppose there will come a day when disabling the people we fight won't be an option, and we will have to kill them instead, but I am just as happy that day wasn't today."

"Yes. That day will come, I'm sure, but not today. I guess we're easing into it," Whitestar said slyly.

"I guess it's maybe the only thing in our lives we _have_ eased into," Taia said. "I mean, my Gifts didn't exactly come on slowly and meekly. Neither did yours, although you were in a place more able to handle them. The lifebond certainly didn't take its time to assert itself, either. The last three years have been so fast, and so hard – running, running, constantly running – maybe that's why I've felt so constrained. Maybe I've really just needed to slow down."

"No," said Whitestar. "That's not it. You are Shin'a'in, born and bred, your people are nomadic. Mine, too – but not as much. We move, but we do so all at once, and often after whole generations have lived and died in the same Vale. But the Shin'a'in – they roam the Plains. They live in tents, we live in semi-permanent ekeles. You are used to moving with the seasons, but you have stayed in the same place for three years. It is not natural for you. It was inevitable that you would feel the pull to leave the Vale, it's really just a question of when – and to what purpose. Where are we going to go?"

"You mean you're willing to go with me? Even though it will mean leaving the Vale?" Taia said.

Whitestar laughed. "We're lifebonded. I go where you go. And I don't know why I wouldn't be willing – you were willing to stay in the Vale forever for me, even though I know it makes you miserable. No – no, don't argue, I know you love the Vale, especially the baths – but you need to move. And so I will move with you. We can always come back, it's not like it's going to disappear when we go."

Taia thought about this. As frightening as the attack that day had been, she wanted to see how her weapons skills matched up to others. She wanted to learn other styles and be around people who had had training similar to hers. The Tale'edras were similar to the Shin'a'in in that they shared a religion, they had a shared history – albeit ancient, and no one really remembered, and their culture had a lot of similarities – but they were not warriors. They were mages. And while she was trained in her mage gift, and used it when circumstances seemed appropriate, she was primarily a warrior with weapons, not magic. She thought –

"Maybe we should join a mercenary troupe," she blurted.

"Do you have a particular one in mind?" asked Whitestar.

"Well," Taia replied, "I know there are some that are better than others. Obviously, I want a troupe that has a reputation for being skilled – there is no point in joining one that is not, it's just a quick way to die. But I also want to join a troupe that has a reputation for being honorable. I don't want to join one that just joins whatever side pays them more, I want to join one that picks the side that is more ethical. I don't want to be slaughtering peasants so some noble can make an extra buck – I want to defend those peasants from the noble."

"That sounds like quite the challenge, to find a troupe like that. But I agree," said Whitestar. "Let's finish our trip, and we'll ask around in the villages we stop in if anyone knows of such a troupe. When we return to the Vale, we will make a decision on which one to join and make a plan for when we will go."

Taia smiled. That sounded like a good idea. It gave them plenty of time to completely enjoy the rest of their vacation and yet time to make a reasoned decision on their return, pack up what they would need and say their goodbyes. She couldn't think of a better plan, and so she didn't try.

"There's one other thing," said Whitestar.

Taia looked at her lifebonded quizzically.

"I want us to be handfasted," Whitestar. "I know we're already lifebonded, but I want to have an actual wedding ceremony. I want an excuse to wear a fancy dress, say my vows in front of witnesses and eat lots of cake."

Taia laughed. "Well if that isn't the most romantic proposal I've ever heard, I accept!" she said.

And so it was agreed – before they set off for their mercenary adventures, they would be handfasted. So that was one other thing to plan – the ceremony, although, if they did too much of it themselves, the hertasi would never forgive them. They had a lot of work to do.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter seven**

Whitestar's parents were not at all thrilled with her plan to join a mercenary troupe. They hadn't even been happy to allow her to take her sennight camping trip, and had only relented when they realized they had no choice. And when they heard about the bandit attack and the fact that their little girl had been at – however slight – risk of actual harm, they were particularly unhappy that she was planning to willingly throw herself at more of it. A lot more.

"What could you possibly be thinking?" asked Bluefeather, Whitestar's mother. She was a particularly Gifted Healer; no mage Gift, but Whitestar inherited her Healing and Empathy gifts from her mother.

"I'm thinking that for one, Taia needs to spread her wings," Whitestar responded. "She is not happy being cooped up in a Vale, for all its luxury; she needs to try her abilities both as a mage and as the warrior she has trained to be since she could walk. I haven't decided yet whether I will fight with a sword or remain with the Healer's tent, but obviously I am going with her. We _are_ lifebonded."

"Fight with a sword?!" exclaimed Bluefeather. "I can't believe you would even think to do such a thing. How will you stay sane with your empathy? And how can you possibly defend yourself?"

"She has been training, dear," said Hawkwind, Whitestar's father. It was from him that Whitestar had inherited the Mage Gift – as well as the lineage to Vanyel and the rest of the Gifts. "I have seen her train; Taia has trained her well. And they did defeat those bandits – rather handily, I might add. While a mercenary troupe is of much greater magnitude, I think she could handle it. Still, daughter, I wish you would reconsider."

"We have to go, father. I need to see the world, too – not just Taia. I don't want to live my life having never ventured beyond the protection of the Vale, or even of its borders. It's not enough," said Whitestar. "Anyway, we also wanted to have a handfasting ceremony, so it's not all bad news!"

"Handfasted?" said Bluefeather. "And you're only telling me now, when you're about to leave? You've given me no time to plan!"

"You're very dramatic, mother. We haven't set a departure date, we've probably got about a moon before we go. And besides, you know perfectly well the hertasi are going to want to do the planning!" Whitestar said. Her mother was a wonderful person – nurturing, gentle, kind, and when she wanted to, she could stand quite firm and resolute against anyone who challenged her – but she was also extremely dramatic. It was a good balance to her stoic, always steady and reasonable father.

"Very well, very well. But what color will you wear? That is the real question," said Bluefeather, finally calmed down and resolved to planning for the ceremony – for now. The discussion about the mercenary troupe was simply postponed. Unfortunately.

"I was thinking green, of course, to match my eyes," said Whitestar. While it was true in some cultures that particular colors were associated with weddings, the Tale'edras were of the opinion that each person should wear what they looked best in and were most comfortable in, not a particular color.

"Yes, yes, of course green. But what else? You need an accent color. And while green and blue is so lovely on you…..you do blue and green a lot. What about red? Or purple! Yes, purple! Oh, we could put ribbons in your hair, and wrap them around your waist and…"

Whitestar laughed. Her mother was highly emotional but easily distracted with planning for parties – next to the hertasi, no one enjoyed it more. Whitestar didn't particularly care what the secondary color was – she thought maybe it might be nice to have as her secondary color whatever primary color Taia wore, but that hadn't been decided yet. She wondered what Taia would choose.

Taia wondered what she was thinking. Standing in front of people – even people she cared for, and who cared about her – and saying vows of love?! Out loud?! She was a rather shy and private person, didn't particularly enjoy displays of emotion in public. That was somewhat true of all Shin'a'in – they were a stoic people – but particularly true of Taia. She had had too many people's feelings and thoughts jammed into her head for too long to be particularly comfortable shoving her feelings in other peoples' faces. But – Whitestar wanted this ceremony. Whitestar was already willing to leave the comforts of the Vale to go traipsing around the country with a mercenary troupe, just so Taia could see how well she measured up to other fighters – the least Taia could do was a ceremony that lasted what, a candlemark? And was followed by a party. She could do a party. Particularly with the _tervardi_ singing.

There was a frantic – or seemingly frantic – moon of planning, and then suddenly the day was at hand. The day of the ceremony arrived. Taia and Whitestar had decided they would leave the morning after – and didn't tell anyone of their plan. They didn't want to overshadow the ceremony with people trying to talk them out of it or being sad that they were leaving; they hadn't yet decided whether they would say their goodbyes in person as they were leaving, by letters for people to find after they had left – or Mindspeech after the fact. They were leaning towards Mindspeech. Goodbyes in person would effectively mean they wouldn't be able to leave at all on the planned day, and letters seemed like the coward's way out; Mindspeech was a good in-between.

Taia had chosen to wear gowns of deep purple – so deep they appeared black until she moved, and then the light hit and they were clearly purple. She wore deep green ribbons as accents, woven into her braids and into the gown itself – the same deep green that Whitestar wore as her gown. Whitestar wore the same deep purple as her accent, and all in all they were quite the pair.

There were green and purple ribbons decorating the common area, and all the Tale'edras were present with smiles on their faces, waiting for the ceremony to begin. Even the bondbirds carried ribbons as they flew in complicated flight patterns for the ceremony. Taia and Whitestar walked slowly up to the altar, which had been decorated with ribbons and flowers until Taia was fairly sure the gardens had been plucked clean. Lightwind was standing on the other side of the altar in a white robe, much like the adoption ceremony. For just a moment, Taia thought of Brandi; she wished there had been some way of getting word to her sister of the ceremony in time for her to at least consider traveling to the Vale to be present for her. But there hadn't been – not if she and Whitestar wanted to have the ceremony before Whitestar's parents could have any time to go back to fretting about the mercenary troupe. They had decided instead that they would travel to Wolf Clan on their way to the mercenary encampment. After all, it's not like they had a real timeline.

"Welcome friends," began Lightwind. "We gather here today to witness the handfasting ceremony for two of our own, Rainfire and Whitestar k'Treva Pretera'sedrin."

Since this was a Tale'edras ceremony, their Tale'edras names were used. Taia almost didn't recognize hers – she used it very seldom. She had gotten used to answering to it from Tale'edras who didn't know her well, but she never used it to introduce herself – just as Whitestar never introduced herself as Ale'shaya, and truly no one called her that, since there were no other Shin'a'in present – only Taia herself ever used it, and then…..not in public.

"Rainfire, do you promise to care for Whitestar, whether she be sick or well, to discuss your disagreements and not cause harm or injury, to stand by her side and be her defense, as long as you both shall live? Do you promise to hold her primary in your life, regardless of any other?"

"I do so promise," Taia said. This was going faster than she anticipated. She supposed she should have asked Whitestar for more clarification on how long this ceremony took, but it was of no matter.

"Whitestar, do you promise to care for Rainfire, whether she be sick or well, to discuss your disagreements and not cause harm or injury, to stand by her side and be her defense, as long as you both shall live? Do you promise to hold her primary in your life, regardless of any other?"

"I do so promise," Whitestar said.

Tale'edras had no expectation of lifelong sexual fidelity – it could be offered or promised, and often was, but was not required, even of a handfasting – it was, however, implied in the handfasting that the partners would not allow an alternate relationship to take precedence over the handfasted partner, hence the promise of primacy and not fidelity. However, since Taia and Whitestar were lifebonded, it was unlikely at best that either of them would ever even look at another person in that manner. Taia could see that plenty of non-lifebonded partners were perfectly happy with each other; however, since even if she and Whitestar agreed to permit an outside dalliance, unlike those other couples Taia and Whitestar could not do so without the other being acutely aware of either being blocked out, or feeling the experience itself. This sounded like pure torture, so it wasn't much of a question.

The women faced each other. Whitestar produced flight feathers from each of her bondbirds. The feathers had been beaded together and she wove them into Taia's hair, under some tiny green and purple ribbons that had been braided in for the purpose. These feathers were intended to be left in place for the duration of Taia's life – of course, they would become worn and require replacement, but if Taia were to remove them permanently, it would signify the end of their handfasting. Taia repeated the process in Whitestar's hair with feathers from Ryki and Sera.

Lightwind smiled. "Hold out your arms," she said. Unlike the Shin'a'in adoption ceremony, this was a bloodless occasion. The women held out their arms, and clasped hands. Lightwind bound their arms together in the green and purple ribbons. This was symbolic of their binding to each other. They would remain this way for the remainder of the evening, needing to depend on the other for anything requiring two hands, and requiring both to travel to any location the one wished to go.

"I pronounce you handfasted," said Lightwind, holding their bound arms aloft. "May your union last until you join the Star Eyed."

And that was it. The ceremony was over. The _Tervardi_ sang, the Tale'edras cheered – and all of them absconded to the food tables. There was roasted pig, fruits, vegetables, sweet breads, and every dessert one could imagine. Wine, kava, and fruit juices for the children. It was a masterpiece of a party, and both Taia and Whitestar felt quite loved by their community. They felt it was an appropriate send-off – even if the Tale'edras didn't know that it was, in fact, a send-off.

The next morning, the women rose before dawn. They had secreted the belongings they needed and wanted to take away in a tree outside the Vale a little bit at a time – there was no keeping secrets from the hertasi, they would have noticed loaded packs whether or not they were on the horses and that information would have gotten around the Vale before they'd even finished packing them. So that morning, they simply got up and packed up what little was left to pack and Whitestar went to their designated tree to get the packs down and make sure everything was packed appropriately while Taia went to get the horses – one for each to ride and one for each to use as a backup mount and pack animal. The horses would switch duties so that they wouldn't get overworked, but they each had their favorites. Taia's primary mount was a black stallion – she was one of the few Shin'a'in who preferred the stallion to the mare, she loved his wildness – with a single white foreleg named Myk. Her backup mount was a deep brown-red mare named Jiera. Whitestar chose a chestnut mare named Tika and a grey dapple mare named Kis. The remainder of the herd would remain with the _dyheli_ – they hoped they would still be welcome after the revelation of their departure, but Whitestar assured Taia that they would be. It wasn't a large herd, anyway; just an additional 5 horses, four mares and one stallion.

Taia arrived quickly back at the tree with the horses. Only two wore riding tack; the other two would follow on command without a lead, and should they be attacked on the road the horses needed as much freedom as possible to defend themselves. Shin'a'in horses did not use bits, only reins and a bridle, and even that was mostly just for extra assistance; almost all the control of a Shin'a'in horse was done by voice commands and the rider's legs. Whitestar had gotten both packs down from the tree by the time Taia arrived and was waiting; They loaded up their packhorses quickly and mounted up on the others – and they were off.

They rode in silence for awhile, each lost in their own thoughts. Taia was excited, nervous, and sad all at the same time; this had been her second home, and a more welcoming one than her first in many ways, and she was leaving. It was impossible to know whether or not they would ever return, and if they did it would be different. They would be different. The Vale would be different – new children, some of the elders might be passed on,and even the Vale itself might be in a different location. Whitestar was afraid; she had never left home before. But she was excited, too. She was sad, and a little bit guilty for leaving without saying goodbye – but that was about to change.

"I think it's time, " said Whitestar, after they'd been riding steadily for a few hours and the sun was up. "We're far enough away no one will send out a search party to drag us back, not that we'd go, and still close enough to reach them with Mindspeech. You could reach them from the Plains – but this is about my limit, and I want to be able to talk, too!"

"Ok," said Taia. "I'm scared."

"Me too," said Whitestar. "Let's get it over with."

 _:Good Morning:_ they said, broad-sending to anyone in the Vale with the Gift. Whitestar would not have been able to do this on her own – her Gift was strong, but not strong enough for that. And she could not easily bespeak anyone without the Gift, although she could if she was in close proximity to them. Taia's, on the other hand, was, and she could Bespeak anyone from almost any distance.

 _:By now you may have noticed that we have left the Vale. We are going to join a mercenary troupe, as we had said we would – and we are sorry for leaving this way. We simply did not want a long goodbye, and thought this might be easier on everyone. We apologize if we caused any of you pain by our choice. We love you all and we thank you for all the gifts you have given us through the years and we hope to return someday and regale you all with our stories!:_

Whitestar had a private message for her parents and her brother - _:I love you Mom, Dad, Hawk – but I know that you would have worried and cried and tried to stop me from going and I wanted to spare all of us that difficulty. I will return someday and tell you all the wonderful adventures I am about to have! Take care.:_

They waited. There was a feeling of shock on the other end, a small amount of frustration – and amusement.

 _:We wish you only the best. Be safe and return to us. We love you:_

The mindvoice was from Hawkwind – he was the only one with a strong enough Gift to reach them, and only for a short period of time. Whitestar could feel her mother's drama through her father's Sending and smiled. They had made the right choice. A few candlemarks later, the bondbirds alerted them to the presence of a hawk of the bondbird variety – it was Greyhawk's bird, Juma.

 _:Juma come, say hi, wishes us well on the journey:_ Tyke conveyed. Juma dipped his wings once in either direction in acknowledgement of the humans, turned and flew back the way he had come. Whitestar smiled; her brother had always been protective of her, but from a distance. He let her do her own thing, but always let her know he was there to help should she ask. This was his way of giving her his blessing on their choice. It made tears spring to Whitestar's eyes, but she was happy. They were on their way, and they were doing the right thing.

It took them three days of riding to reach the Plains; they could have made it in one and a half, but they weren't on a timetable, so when they felt like stopping – they stopped. When they were hungry, they stopped to eat, rather than eating in the saddle – that was the one thing they hadn't thought of, travel food. It didn't occur to them that they wouldn't be able to take much with them without it being noticed – they had a bit of bread and some fruit, but no dried meat or travel pies like they would have had if they had notified the Vale of their plans. So they had little choice but to hunt for all their meals, which required them to stop and cook whatever the birds had caught – which was somewhat time consuming. Luckily, however, there were four bondbirds – two of them could hunt for the humans, and the other two could hunt for the birds. So by the time the birds had caught something, Whitestar would have a fire built to cook the meat while Taia would find water for themselves and the horses. It didn't take them long to develop this routine, so the stops weren't terrifically long.

When they reached the edge of the Plains, they stopped. Taia looked at the land of her birth and tears came to her eyes; she had thought she would never see it again. The land spread out in front of her, almost entirely grassland with a few winding rivers and forest copses – nowhere near the kinds of trees the Pelagiris were normal trees, oak, maple, birch, sycamore, walnut, and hickory. Mostly the forests were in bunches near the rivers. It was beautiful. They began the descent into the Plains themselves; the descent itself took the rest of the day, and by the time they reached the bottom the sun was starting to set. They were two candlemarks away from the nearest river, which was a bit of a problem – until Taia looked at Whitestar, grinned, and bid her horse to run.

Whitestar's mount and the packhorses followed suit, and instead of reaching the river in two candlemarks they reached it in half of one. Taia was laughing, her eyes sparkling – she was exhilarated. She was so happy to be back to the Plains, doing the one thing she missed the most about her native land – galloping across the open plain. She'd finished the run sitting up, face to the sky and arms out wide, feeling the full sun on her face and the wind blowing against was grinning too, but she was also shocked; she'd never done that before. She'd lived in a forest her whole life – even on their sennight vacation, there wasn't much open ground around them, no room for a good gallop. She arrived next to Taia out of breath, her hair gloriously tousled. Taia, still grinning, watered the horses; they were in a bit of a lather. The descent to the Plains was an arduous one, followed by a half-candlemark of an all-out gallop; but they were Shin'a'in and it wasn't more than they could handle. Besides, Taia had it in her mind to take a full day here to rest up, do some real hunting, let the horses recover and eat some good grass before they made the final push to Wolf Clan. At this time of year, they were about a two-day ride from where they were, and since Brandi didn't know they were coming at all, it wasn't as if they had to get there at a particular time. So they had the time for some leisure.

The birds had found a few rabbits and Whitestar had built up the fire. They cooked their meat, ate, drank, and made love under the stars while the horses grazed nearby, and the bondbirds dozed – all except for Sera, the owl-eagle, who had spent the entire descent dozing, jarred awake by the gallop – and now spent the night keeping watch over the small family as they slept.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter eight**

Taia knew that the trip from their first campsite by the river to Wolf Clan was really a two day ride. But she was nervous; she hadn't been to the Plains since she was a young teenager, with the voices and feelings of her entire Clan in her head saying she should be killed, she was a witch, she was a bad omen for the Clan. She knew that the Wolf Clan was different – but she was still nervous. Would they welcome her and Whitestar? Would they allow them to visit? Or would they chase them out? She had no way of knowing, and wasn't in a hurry to find out.

On the evening of the third day, they arrived on the edge of Wolf Clan territory. Their scout let out a whoop – recognizably Shin'a'in horses, but not recognizably Shin'a'in people – had she changed so much? She knew that her hair had bleached white from the use of magic, but she was a bit vain – not in that she wanted to maintain any kind of beauty, but she wanted to maintain the appearance of her Shin'a'in heritage. So she maintained an illusion of her normal appearance – it was tied into her shields, so as long as she was alive it would remain in place. She also knew, in fact, that Whitestar did the same thing – that was how she'd learned to do it. Without the illusion, Whitestar's hair was as pale as her name and her eyes bleached blue, not green. She knew that was what the scout saw as she approached, even though – in reality – she was a white-haired, pale-eyed version of herself.

"Greetings," she said. "I am Taia shena Pretera'sedrin k'Treva, and this is my lifebonded Ale'shaya k'Treva Pretera'sedrin. I am the sister of Brandi of your Clan. I have come hoping to visit my sister before joining a mercenary troupe."

"Welcome, Taia, Ale'shaya," said an older, but strong looking woman. "I am Kinsa, shaman of Wolf Clan. You are welcome here, and you may stay as long as you like. However, beyond the maintenance of your shields, I must insist that you use no magic while you are on the Plains. It is our custom, as you well know."

"Of course, shaman. We have not used any since our arrival and will continue to uphold the Shin'a'in custom," said Taia. She was a little nervous, being addressed by the shaman; her own experience with shamans was not exactly positive. However, Brandi had told her many times that the shaman of Wolf Clan was a different sort, and she decided that in the absence of evidence, she would give the woman the benefit of the doubt.

"Come," said Kinsa. "I will escort you to your sister's tent, and when you have greeted each other, we shall have a welcoming feast."

"Thank you," said Taia, a bit surprised at the grand welcome. This Clan really was nothing like her own, and in the best possible way.

When they were far enough out of earshot of the rest of the Clan, Taia had a question for the shaman.

"I am sure you are aware that the use of magic has a bleaching effect," Taia began. "In reality, I have completely white hair, and pale blue eyes as well as lighter skin as a result of it. I am a bit vain, and wanted to maintain my Shin'a'in appearance, so I have an illusion tied in with my shields; Ale'shaya has a similar one in place. I am hoping you will allow us to maintain the illusions, as they are part of the shields, and I wonder if our actual appearances might be more disruptive than the maintenance of the illusions would be. However, at your request, we will banish them, we have no wish to offend."

Kinsa laughed. "I understand the desire to maintain the appearance of your heritage," she said. "I will not mention it, and you may keep them. As you say, they are tied in with your shields, so they are not truly a violation of custom."

"I have a question as well," Ale'shaya - Whitestar – said. "The bondbirds. I know the Shin'a'in do not keep them, and I also know you hunt, as do we. In fact the bondbirds often assist us. I am hoping your Clan members will not accidentally believe them to be prey."

Kinsa laughed again – Taia concluded that Brandi was right about this shaman, she had not heard her own shaman laugh in her entire life – except AT someone. And not in a funny way.

"Your bondbirds are safe," she said. "We do not keep them, but we are not unfamiliar with the concept. We in Wolf Clan have more contact, perhaps, with Tale'edras cousins than other Clans, and also with the _kyree_ – so intelligent animal species is not beyond our ken."

Ale'shaya was relieved. "Thank you," she said. She and Taia were both relieved – they had planned on having the bondbirds stay in hiding or out of arrow-range, but this was a much better solution.

They arrived at a tent some distance out from the rest of the clan and found Brandi and Jacqui sitting outside skinning a large deer hide. Taia had only ever seen Jacqui once – a small woman, slender, with long straight hair that one would never hesitate to assume was an easy mark, if you were the type to look for one – until you saw her eyes. Jacqui was not a woman to mess with. Or at least that's how Taia remembered her. Taia was, however, a child at that time, with a child's perceptions and a child's acceptance of her mother's truth that Jacqui was the cause of Brandi's seduction into the she'chorne life. She understood now that her mother's truth was distorted – but she still had only the one time she'd ever seen Jacqui, and so had the perceptions of that child intact.

"Taia!" Brandi exclaimed, looking up from her work and seeing her sister. She got up quickly and rinsed her hands in the nearby bucket of water there for the purpose, dried them off on her tunic and ran over. Taia and Ale'shaya dismounted quickly and the three embraced tightly in greeting. Jacqui too got up and washed her hands, and greeted them, although a bit more reservedly – she didn't really know Taia and didn't know Ale'shaya at all. But she walked over with a broad smile on her face, nonetheless.

"Hi," she said. "Taia, I haven't seen you since you were – what, eleven? You had just trained your first foal, I remember. And this is – Ale'shaya, right? Brandi told me about you."

Shin'a'in trained their first foal from birth when they were seven. It was something of a coming-of-age tradition; they didn't become adults at seven, of course, but they did become full members of the Clan. They were allowed to choose a pregnant mare; they then assisted in the birth of the foal and then were responsible for raising and training that foal until it was a fully grown, fully trained member of the herd, which was when the foal was about three. Taia had just turned eleven when that foal turned three, the foal having been born towards the end of her seventh year. It was the year Brandi was banished. Of course Taia remembered; Brandi was her beloved older sister, always there to give advice, always there to listen when Taia was upset and couldn't talk to their mother or even to Kiri. Taia had been devastated when Brandi was banished.

"Hi," said Taia. "It's good to see you again, Jacqui. Yes, this is Ale'shaya, my lifebonded – Ale'shaya, this is Jacqui, Brandi's wife."

"Hi," said Ale'shaya. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Brandi told me about you while she was staying at k'Treva. It's nice to put a face to a name."

Taia was a little surprised – she hadn't been aware that Ale'shaya and Brandi had talked much. But no matter. But they had, of course; they had talked about questions Ale'shaya had about Taia that could not be asked directly – which was how Brandi had known to get out of the bath that one night…..

The four women sat down around the firepit – it was too hot to have a fire burning, but there were enough comfortable seats for them to sit and talk. Kinsa had returned to the heart of the Clan when it was clear her services were no longer needed; Taia was briefly guilty that she hadn't noticed her leave, but decided that if Kinsa had wanted to be noticed, she would have been. Shamans were sneaky.

"What brings you to Wolf Clan? Is there a problem?" asked Brandi.

"No, no, nothing like that," Taia said. "We are on our way to join a mercenary troupe, and thought since we have no deadline or timeframe, we'd stop and visit you along the way."

"A mercenary troupe! Wow! That's quite the adventure. What made you decide that? Which troupe have you decided to apply for? Are you sure?"

Taia laughed. "Well, the Vale as you know is lovely, but limited. I was feeling rather stifled there – yes, I could use the mage Gift to assist in taming the wild magic in the area, but despite – everything – I am just another mage, there. A powerful one, maybe, but just a mage. And that's only half of what I am, really. I trained in every weaponry skill I could find, as you well know, but as a Tale'edras in the Vale – I never get to use it. It's just exercise. I'm not looking forward to the prospect of killing people" – Taia shuddered, visibly – "but it is what I'm trained to do. You were the one who told me to use what the Goddess gave me to better the world – and I can't do that if I'm only using half of it."

Brandi looked pleased. She had expected great things from Taia – great things were expected of anyone so generously Gifted – but had not been sure that Taia would feel the responsibility of those gifts. It seemed she did.

"We don't really know anything about mercenary troupes," said Ale'shaya. "We had thought we would just head towards Kata'shin'a'in and ask around, and if we couldn't find anything promising there, we would move on to Throne City."

"That's a good plan," said Jacqui. "I was a mercenary for a couple of years, and you definitely want a troupe with a good reputation. I would recommend Fire Eagles or Wind Riders, if I were you. The first is a small but highly skilled troupe, they take fighters of all kinds, mages, healers, whatever – but you have to pass their evaluation. They only take the best. Wind Riders – they are a specialty troupe of horseback skirmishers. They're a good troupe, but a little more limited in scope. Ask around, of course, I don't know that either are in the market for new recruits right now and you may be able to find a better fit."

"Thank you," said Taia. "I hadn't realized that you were a mercenary, but we certainly appreciate the recommendations."

"I fought with the Sunhawks for a few years, the troupe that Tarma shena'Tale'sedrin fought with. It was a good troupe, it's where I met Brandi," said Jacqui.

"Wait, Brandi, you were a mercenary? Why didn't I know this?" exclaimed Taia.

"It was only for a year, immediately after mom banished me. I didn't know what else to do. I met Jacqui when she was on leave at Kata'shin'a'in, and followed her back. I only signed on for a year and coincidentally, that's when Jacqui's contract was up as well. I enjoyed it – the comradery, the chance to use what I'd been taught – but I had no wish to die young, and we both missed the Plains. So we left, came back to Wolf Clan. And that's when I heard about what was going on with you. It didn't seem like a necessary thing to share; other than meeting Jacqui, it was a really…problematic part of my life. I don't talk about it much," said Brandi.

"I'm sorry," said Taia. "You've been there for me through everything. You're a rock to me – impenetrable, always land on your feet, strong enough to manage through anything. It never occurred to me how hard it was for you when you were banished, I had thought you simply went to Wolf Clan and got adopted and that was that. I feel terrible for being so selfish all these years and not being there for you, too, the way you've been for me."

"Don't, little sister," said Brandi, with a smile. "I wanted you to think that. It gave me purpose to come for you, it gave me back my own family – Jacqui is wonderful, Wolf Clan is wonderful – but as you know, Ale'shaya and the k'Treva family don't make up for the one you lost. You gave me back my family, and I thank you for that."

Taia smiled. She felt a little better, but she vowed that she would make a solid effort to be more aware – and more present – for her sister than she had been in the past. Speaking of sisters….

"Do you know where Kiri is spending her time these days?" she asked.

"Not really," Brandi said. "Last I heard, she was still with your Clan, but she may have moved on. I don't hear much from her – I don't think she agrees with our darling mother or the shaman there, but at the same time it's not like I had much of a relationship with her to begin with. She's always been a bit standoffish; I don't really expect to hear from her."

"What about Andrien? She's eleven now, right? I suppose you would have no way of knowing anything about her, either. Not that I really even knew her – she was six when the Gifts hit. She never knew me much as anything other than the witch sister," Taia said.

"Exactly right," said Brandi. "I hear she's well; she would have trained her first foal by now. But beyond that, I don't hear much. The Clan is as unstable as it ever was – that shaman is not relinquishing his ideas one bit, and mother dear is still following his every word. I imagine Andrien is growing up to be quite the shadow of her mother, having no other real role models to follow. It might be difficult for Cat Clan to recover once that shaman is gone. I can't say as I agree with the elders' plan to outlast him – I don't think they considered the power of the next generation growing up under his perverted influence. I just don't know."

They continued their reminiscence of the better times of Cat Clan and their speculations on what their other two sisters might be up to. Taia wanted to try and find Kiri before they left for the mercenary troupe. She decided in the morning, she would ask her bondbirds to scout, but from a distance, out of arrow range. The Plains were large, but not so large that two bondbirds couldn't cover at least most of it in a day or two, and they were intelligent enough to divide the work between them. From the Vale, she would have just used her Farsight – but she was on the Plains, and use of her Gifts was strictly forbidden. They were twins; they'd never been particularly close, but they were still twins, and Taia wanted to see her sister if at all possible. Andrien and her mother – well, she had no wish to see her mother, but if she could see Andrien she wouldn't mind. She would think about it. Tonight – revelry, and sisterhood, awaited.

Taia and Ale'shaya truly enjoyed their visit with Wolf Clan. They spent an entire sennight there – they had only planned on two or three days, but Taia had underestimated how much she missed her sister and her people, and Ale'shaya was enjoying learning about her adopted people as well. She knew the history, of course, and the customs, but other than what Taia told her it had been nothing more than one could learn in a school. She was enjoying watching the day-to-day activities of the Clan, watching the children practice their weapons training and their horseback riding – even a few youngsters who were training their first foals. She learned to weave, and to her surprise really enjoyed it – she wasn't very good at it, yet, but she would be if she wished. She also learned to tan a hide, and since they generally made their own boots and wrappings for sword and knife handles, as well as several items of their travelwear, they would need many.

Taia had, in fact, determined where her other two sisters were by virtue of her bondbirds boredom – they were only too happy to spend their days scouting, seeing as there were no other bondbirds here to talk to and their humans were just sitting around talking to other humans. Kiri was studying under another Kal'enedral living with Bear Clan, two days ride from here; Andrien was, of course, with their mother. She wasn't sure how she would go about seeing Andrien, or if she should. It could be more trouble than it was worth to show up at her old Clan – part of her wanted to do it just to see what would happen and to prove that she was alive, well and stronger than they thought she was, and part of her wanted to just pretend they didn't even exist. But Cat Clan was also two days ride from here – in the opposite direction from Bear Clan. In the end, they decided that Brandi and Jacqui would ride with them for the first day towards Bear Clan, at least, and perhaps further if they decided they were enjoying the trip.

"Why is your tent so far away from the rest of the Clan?" Taia asked Brandi as they set out towards Bear Clan.

"Because we like privacy," Brandi answered. "And sometimes we leave early in the morning on a hunting trip; we don't want to disturb the rest of the Clan."

"But most importantly, I am the one responsible for tanning most of the hides for the Clan tents and clothing," said Jacqui. "It's a stinky process."

They all laughed at that. Tanning hides sure was smelly, although – not that any of them would know, they'd never lived in a regular city – not nearly as smelly as the tanneries in the cities. It was messy, too; the skins needed to be scraped of all connective tissue, then cleaned, a salt solution applied to bring out the moisture. Then the hair was removed, at least if they wanted plain leather and not a fur. The skin was bated by rubbing a solution of either dung, urine or the animal's brains, depending on what was available and what the person wanted, and then cleaned again before the leather was considered cured with salt, dyed if desired and ready to process into whatever it was intended to be made into – tent material, boots, armor, saddles, bridles, or other things. This was a painstaking and smelly process, so it made sense that the person primarily responsible for its accomplishment was somewhat separated from the rest of the Clan.

They rode towards Bear Clan, and Taia was getting nervous again. She hadn't seen Kiri in three years, and the last time she saw her she was near incoherent with uncontrolled Gifts. Kiri had been humiliated by her on the best days – and on the worst, she was considering the Clan's suggestion of sacrificing Taia to the Goddess as a witch. They were sisters, twins even, and Kiri had lent her the Leshya'e Kal'enedral – a very unusual thing for a Kal'enedral to request, and even more unusual for the Leshya'e to accept – but still. She was nervous. Ale'shaya was even more nervous – she had never met Kiri at all. What would it be like to have two people that looked like her lifebonded? That was a silly thing to wonder about, but she wondered just the same. Did Kiri even know she existed? How did she feel about she'chorne people? After all, she had been raised with the same Clan that Taia was, and spent longer in it. Would they be shunned? What would happen?

They arrived at the border of Bear Clan on the evening of the second day. Brandi and Jacqui had left earlier that day to return home, with the agreement that Taia and Ale'shaya would stop back on their way out – whether or not they chose to attempt to visit Andrien, they would be passing close to Wolf Clan territory. Taia introduced herself to a man who presented himself as an elder of the Clan, made the standard promises to abandon the use of magic during their stay – and there was Kiri.

Kiri was shocked to see them; Taia was as shocked to see her twin. Kiri looked different – sharper, more hardened, more androgynous; that was the gift of the Star Eyed when a Shin'a'in took Kal'enedral vows, which included a vow of celibacy. In order to make that vow easier to keep, the Star Eyed removed the individuals desire as well as making their appearance more androgynous. Secretly, Ale'shaya was relieved – she would have no trouble telling the two apart. It also helped that where Taia wore regular light colored leather as her riding gear, with some colored beading for decoration, Kiri wore unrelieved deep brown – if she were wearing formal gear, it would be unrelieved black leathers. Taia wore her hair in braids tight to her head, but the braids then hung down her back freely; Kiri had hers in similar braids, but all combined into one at the nape of her neck and was coiled tightly about her head. It was….unbecoming, but the Kal'enedral were supposed to dress for function, not form. They were to be ready to fight at any moment, and to fight with the strength and skill of an entire Clan in one body.

"Taia," said Kiri, the first to speak. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"We weren't sure whether or not we should come, but I was visiting Brandi and thought I should visit you as well," Taia responded. Kiri had never been a particularly warm person – it was even harder to tell how she was feeling now that she was Swordsworn. Taia wished desperately that she could use her Empathy to help determine whether or not her twin was happy to see her, but she could not. It would be noticed, and she would be breaking a vow she had made in earnest.

"I am glad you are here," said Kiri. "Is this your mate?"

"Yes, this is Ale'shaya, my lifebonded, of k'Treva Vale. They adopted me, as well." Taia answered.

"Very nice to meet you," Kiri said. It was obvious from her flat tone that it was not, in fact, clear whether or not she meant it. "Please, care for your horses, then come to my tent. It is obvious, I believe, which one it is – it is on the outskirts of Clan territory and has a Cat dyed into the leather."

And so they did. They arrived at Kiri's tent at dusk, and Kiri had prepared a dinner for them. They enjoyed their evening together, discussed their shared childhood, apologized for old hurts and angers, and by the end of the evening they were laughing again like they had as small children running around the Plains playing hide-and-find. They went to bed feeling as if they had re-established their bond of sisterhood, eliminating all the hurts of the past and starting over. Taia realized that while childhood for her, with her unbidden Gifts, had been difficult – that didn't mean it had been easy for Kiri. She had been somewhat distracted from Kiri's problems being overwhelmed by her own; and once again she felt the guilt of having been unable to be there to support one of her sisters. But this time she realized there wasn't any way that she realistically could have been, in the state that she was at the time. Kiri loved Brandi almost as much as Taia did, and resented their mother for banishing her. She didn't feel comfortable mating with either a male or a female, and didn't want to bring up any children in the repressive atmosphere that was Cat Clan these days – and so had made the vows of Kal'enedral, rather than choose an alternative Clan. She didn't want to choose an alternative Clan, she was Kiri shena'Pretera'sedrin and nothing was ever going to change that, but raising children in that atmosphere? She couldn't do it. Taia felt even more saddened about the plight of her Clan, and angry at the Elders for believing that outlasting the shaman, rather than banishing him, was the answer.

They spent the entire next day with Kiri catching up, riding around aimlessly and talking about the past, the present, the future. Kiri was excited about their plans to sign with the mercenary troupe and wanted to hear all about it when they returned; Taia promised to come and give her a full report. The morning after their second day, Taia and Ale'shaya decided it was time to leave. They had enjoyed their time with Kiri, but Bear Clan did not feel like 'home' the way Wolf Clan did, and they had run out of things to do or talk about. So – they departed, having decided that yes, yes they would have the courage to attempt to visit Cat Clan. Taia had a lot of anger towards her mother, but she was still her mother – and if bridges could be built, she had to make the effort to build them.

They rode back to Brandi and Jacqui's tent and told them of their plan, and once again the two women rode halfway with them. Brandi explained that they took any opportunity they could find to ride out and camp for a night; they loved the isolation and the independence. But they didn't come anywhere near Cat Clan; they left them a whole day's ride out.

"I was banished once, and not welcomed by any means when I came to fetch you. I have no wish to experience that ever again," Brandi explained, and Taia couldn't exactly blame her; she wasn't entirely certain she wanted to do this herself.

Taia and Ale'shaya rode towards Cat Clan mostly in silence – the Shin'a'in could forbid the use of actual magic, but the lifebond existed regardless, and could not be forbidden; each was aware of the other's feelings whether they wanted to be or not. This was the reason lifebonded partners occasionally disagreed, but rarely fought – they felt the pain of their partner from every barb they threw. It was an excellent deterrent.

They arrived at midday on the second day out of Wolf Clan. However, unlike Wolf Clan and Bear Clan, there was no one sent to greet them. They rode through the Clan, which each member staring at them, expressionless, as they passed. They arrived at Taia's mother's tent and were met not by her mother, but by the shaman.

"You are not welcome here," he said.

"I have come only to greet my mother and my younger sister," Taia said. "I have no wish to cause trouble."

"You have no mother in Cat Clan. You have no sister. You are not of us. Be gone," said the shaman.

Taia was stunned. She had expected that there wouldn't be a warm welcome; she had expected she would be greeted with condemnation of her mage gift, of her lifebonded, or even her clothing style – but she hadn't expected to be kicked out, disinherited, without even being allowed to say hello. She wasn't sure how to respond.

"I would like to see my mother. I will not leave until she shows herself," she said. She was a little surprised by her own persistence.

"If you do not leave, you will be declared an enemy of Cat Clan and treated accordingly," said the shaman. Taia knew what that meant – the Clan would be ordered to attack and kill her. She was sure that between herself, Ale'shaya, her horses and the bondbirds she could make quite a dent in their numbers; but she was just as sure she wouldn't survive the experience, and had no desire to kill her own people. That was a taboo she would not be forgiven for, and she would be forever banned from the Plains and all the Clans – not just her own. So instead, she gathered her courage, and called out to her mother:

"Minka shena Pretera'sedrin, your daughter Taia shena Pretera'sedrin stands outside your tent, wishing to speak with you. You have sent your shaman in your stead to banish me from my own kin, my own Clan, for reasons outside anyone's control save the Goddess Herself. You deny me the chance to greet you and to greet my sister, Andrien. I declare you oathbreaker, for you have broken the most sacred oath of all – the oath to love and cherish your children. You are not my mother. You are no one's mother. You are no one," Taia said, loudly enough for the entire Clan to hear.

She was surprised by her speech, but she realized she meant every word. She sat still for a moment, looking the shaman dead in the eye – and continued to look him in the eye as she rode past him. She did not turn around, that would show weakness. She intended to show nothing but strength. She rode past him, looking him in the eye as she did so, and on through the remainder of the territory. When the shaman attempted to take the reins of the packhorses, she commanded them to fight – and he let them go. They rode to the nearest riverbank, outside Cat Clan territory, and made camp.

Only then – only then did Taia begin to sob.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter nine**

The next morning they scrawled a message of what had happened and their goodbyes on a piece of birchbark and sent it via bondbird to Brandi and Jacqui. Taia didn't want to be on the Plains anymore; as much as she had initially loved being back in the land of her birth, she wanted to be out of it now. She was sure someday she would come back – after all, Wolf Clan had welcomed her, and Bear Clan wasn't unfriendly – but for now, it was time to go. Tyke, the fastest flyer of the bunch, and therefore selected for messenger duty, would not catch up with them until they were out of the Plains, but that was ok. He was smart enough to stay out of arrow range, he would be safe. Most of the area he would be flying over was either Wolf Clan territory or currently unoccupied anyway; each of the Clans had their own range over which they migrated throughout the year, leaving large portions of it unoccupied during any given season. This way, no one area was depleted of hunting stock, and even the grass could recover in between periods of occupation.

They rode with purpose, not ambling along like they had most days, but at a ground-devouring canter. They were headed to Kata'shin'a'in, the only city of the Shin'a'in people. It sat at the top of the crater containing the Dhorisha Plains and it was where the Plains people traded what horses they were willing to trade. Always geldings – never mares, never stallions, never anything that could contribute to any outlander's breeding stock. It was also where they traded weavings, metalworks, weapons, the occasional woodworking or animal fur. They bought raw materials, foodstuffs that could not be grown on the Plains, and various kinds of cloth for clothing, heavy armor, whatever they couldn't provide for themselves. It was also a good place to rendezvous with mercenary representatives looking for recruits, or at least information as to where to find them.

They arrived in Kata'shin'a'in in the evening of the second day after Taia's failed reunion with her clan. It was too late in the evening to really get any business done, so they found a pleasant looking inn and got a room. They saw to the care of the horses – luckily, these were people who if not Shin'a'in themselves were familiar with Shin'a'in mounts, so the care was excellent and the stablehands were used to being monitored by the riders of their charges. Taia and Whitestar went inside and found a booth in a back corner. Dinner was served; a thick beef stew with hearty bread and ale. They ate mostly in silence, enjoying being inside a building with walls and a real roof for awhile. While Whitestar was used to the ekele and Taia enjoyed tent sleeping, it was comforting tonight to have actual solid walls in between herself and other people. After dinner, they went to their room and slept – hard. They slept until midmorning, and when they finally woke up breakfast was almost over. They went downstairs, still bleary-eyed for some buiscuits and oatmeal. Time to start their day.

They left the horses in the capable hands of the inn's stable and walked around the city, partly looking for mercenary representatives and partly looking for any goods they thought they would need. They found some exceptionally light weight chainmail armor that they couldn't really afford, but decided they couldn't afford to go without either; they would have to sell some weavings or some skins in order to make up the difference. Neither of them had a lot of coin – the Tale'edras had no need for it within the Vale, so all they had was what they had managed to scrape together. Here was another dilemma they needed to solve – how were they going to fund their trip to whatever mercenary camp they decided to join? They inquired with the local guardhouse, thinking maybe they could earn a bounty on some bandits – and they were in luck. There was a small band of bandits not terribly far from the town that had been giving the guards some trouble; bring back the weapon of their leader, and they would recoup what they had spent on the chainmail. They decided they would set out the following morning, but for now they continued their reconnaissance.

They wandered up and down the booths, looking at what was for sale and making notes of what they wanted to purchase and how much coin they'd need to do so. They decided they might have to stay in Kata'shin'a'in for awhile, just to make some coin to buy what they needed. They realized how incredibly unprepared they were for this journey and were a little ashamed of themselves. All was not lost, however; they could camp and feed themselves indefinitely while doing odd jobs and weaving, carving or molding various things to sell while they made the coin to buy the things they decided were necessary, and at least they didn't need to purchase weapons. The armor was expensive, but the weapons were more so. They decided it would be a good idea to have some sort of armor for the horses, even if it was just leather. Taia could make this armor, she supposed, but it was time consuming and difficult, so they thought if they could make the coin to purchase it, they would; besides, tanning was stinky business that they couldn't do while in the city limits anyway. They needed some basic supplies – rope, travel food, soap, and they decided to purchase additional saddlebags to carry them. They also decided it might be useful to purchase an actual mule or chirra to use as a pack animal instead of their actual Shin'a'in mounts; that was a debate, though. During their actual trip to the mercenary camp, it would not be necessary; the usefulness would be once they arrived. If one or more of their horses were injured – or even killed, Taia didn't want to think about that just yet – they would not be able to use them as either a packhorse or a mount, and so it would be helpful to have an animal designated as strictly for carrying their equipment. However, if they purchased such an animal here, they would have to make arrangements to purchase food for it during their journey, which required more coin than they had. It was a bit of a vicious circle. They decided there would likely be opportunity to purchase an animal when they arrived to the camp, thereby gaining the time to earn the coin as well as saving the coin needed to feed the animal.

They decided to try and find another side job while in the city as well as sell some crafts; they made the mistake of being unprepared once, they didn't want to make it again, and so would make sure they had as much coin as they could make in a moon or slightly longer. They had gotten up late enough in the morning that they weren't hungry again until dinner, so they went back to the inn and had another meal of hearty stew and bread. Not a lot of variety in inn fare, but it was good, and it was high quality. They discussed what they had learned that day and made their plan for the bandit raid in the morning – despite the Shin'a'in proverb that no battle plan survives first engagement, it was also not a good idea to proceed without having one at all. They decided on the obvious; send Syen to scout, and she would relay her information to Whitestar. The actual battle plan would be decided based on that information, but Taia thought it would be most beneficial to attack from two sides; come at the bandits from opposite directions, possibly using the bondbirds and even the packhorses to chase the bandits to the middle of their camp and then proceed to defeat them. She wasn't sure about utilizing the bondbirds and packhorses in that manner, but it was an option she would consider based on what Syen discovered. A larger group of bandits would make this plan too dangerous for the packhorses, although the bondbirds might be able to manage it with communication via Mindspeech and commands to withdraw if needed; the packhorses, however, would fight to the death if Taia commanded them to fight at all, and could not be withdrawn so easily. So if she were going to utilize them, it would have to be a small group of bandits; she wasn't prepared to risk her secondary mounts before they even arrived at the mercenary camp. Getting replacements would be far too difficult. She couldn't just request replacement mounts from her Clan, as she would if she had not been banished. She could perhaps request replacements from Wolf Clan, but they were not obligated to provide them. She would have to travel all the way back to k'Treva and retrieve them from her own tiny herd – and the more frequently she had to do that, the longer it would take to build a significant herd at all.

She had mated the mares left behind before they left on their journey – she was starting to wonder if she should have only brought the stallions with her, and left the mares behind to give birth. She rather wished she had. However, it would have only made a difference of one, seeing as she only possessed two stallions, and so the difference was insignificant. She was sure that if necessary, she could ask Brandi for the trade of a foal for a full-grown horse. And it very well may be necessary – should one of their horses fall, since all four mares were pregnant it only left the single stallion as replacement. Taia sent a silent prayer to the Star Eyed for the health and safety of the horses she was planning to take into battle. She hoped the Star Eyed would see the irony – but then, the Star Eyed was a warrior Goddess. Battle was not unfamiliar to Her.

They drank their ale and then went upstairs to bed. They wanted to make sure they were well rested before they left on their mission in the morning, which they wanted to do before dawn. They slept soundly, and woke with energy, anxiety and excitement. This would be their first real employment as fighters and they were excited and scared. The bandits that attacked them were fought in self defense; this would be an attack. This would be planned, and if they planned poorly it would end poorly. However, they needed coin, and the city and travelers to and from it needed to be safe from bandits. So they put on their shiny new armor under their leathers, armed themselves as fully as possible, and went to get the horses. Syen would scout at first light, which would be a candlemark or two before their arrival to the bandit camp; this would give ample time to finalize their attack plan. They would incapacitate, rather than kill, as many bandits as possible – both wished to spare life when possible. However, there was a good chance that it would not be possible to spare all of the bandits; this also made them nervous.

The inn dining hall was virtually empty – most people staying at an inn drank late and slept in. But they were able to get some biscuits and fried ham to eat for breakfast, and a couple of meat pies to take along with them for lunch. They doubted they would have time to eat them before the return trip, but they knew the fight would take a lot out of them and wanted to have some nourishment available. They went to get the horses saddled – and they were off.

The sun was just coming up over the horizon when Syen took off with a purpose to scout the camp. Syen was the pick for this job because as an eagle, she could scout from the highest distance – well outside of arrow range. Since it was their first battle plan, they wanted to be overly cautious rather than overly ambitious, so while any of the other birds likely could have accomplished the same goal safely, Syen was the one with the least risk. She returned an image of about 20 bandits, sitting in front of their tents – and damn. They were sharpening their swords and making new arrows. They were planning a raid. More than that, their weaponry would be in prime condition when the women arrived. Oh well, it couldn't be helped. They would have to be that much more prepared. Taia decided using the packhorses as additional fighters was a poor idea, so they left them beside a creekbed with commands to remain there and run if anyone other than they approached them. They proceeded towards the camp.

Taia took up her place on one side of the camp while Whitestar moved to the other. The bondbirds – two on each side – took up positions on the other sides with instructions to not directly attack, but to encourage the bandits to run towards the center. It occurred to Taia that perhaps they would have been better off sneaking around and attacking them one at a time, but they were already fairly concentrated, so she thought that would be unlikely to be successful – and more likely to leave herself and Whitestar surrounded. Her goal was the opposite. She also intended to only utilize physical weaponry, as she still believed it unfair to use Mage Gift on the unGifted; however, if it came down to shooting lightning bolts at them or dying for her cause, she would shoot the bolts. Whitestar indicated by Mindspeech that she was ready – and they were off.

With a Shin'a'in battle cry, she urged her horse to a full charge and bid her bondbirds begin their attack. The bandits were initially startled, but recovered quickly – much to her disappointment. She fired at them quickly, bow in hand, but was not quick enough to avoid an arrow graze to her arm. She felt Whitestar receive one to her leg, but both required all their focus to avoid failure. The birds were successful in getting the bandits to consolidate themselves in the center of the camp, and when the distance was too close to use arrows the women dropped their bows and threw their knives. It was only then that they drew their swords – Taia fought with a sword in each hand, and no shield, and so did Whitestar since Taia trained her – which required much more practice, but provided an excellent advantage against the single-sword fighting style of everyone else. Their swords were also curved; therefore, rather than having the sudden stop when sword met flesh with the corresponding requirement to utilize strength and time to pull the sword back, the momentum of the swing itself pulled the sword through the flesh and back out again, saving energy, time – and often, the wielder's life.

The two women fought a solid battle, receiving a few gashes with varying levels of severity – but they were winning. Once the birds finished their drive efforts, they joined in the fray, diving for scalps, eyes, hands, even the occasional neck. Any of them was large enough to sever a spinal cord, but that required a very precise hit between helmet and armor. After a candlemark or two of fighting, the battle was over – and the women had won, rather decisively. They managed to incapacitate rather than kill fifteen of the roughly twenty-two bandits, and when they were finished, they bound them with rope and prepared to lead them back to the guardpost. Those who could not walk were dragged on pallets made of the bandits' own tents and poles, pulled by their own horses with their leads tied together and led by the two women. They returned to where they had left the packhorses. They switched mounts, as theirs had a few non-serious injuries and needed the break. They then attached the leads of the bandit horses to their own mounts and let them lead the horses back to the guardpost – where they sold the horses for a tidy profit in addition to their pay for the bandit-hunt. They did, however, keep the best mount for their personal packhorse; they decided that since they now didn't have to actually purchase the pack animal, the cost of feeding one horse – the Shin'a'in bred horses would do just fine on grass – was an acceptable one. He was a standard brown with a white stripe on his nose, probably about four years old, with a surprisingly calm and easy disposition; they gelded him and named him Jessup.

The guards, for their part, were duly impressed with the fact that not only had two women and some birds managed to eliminate a bandit gang of more than twenty, they did so in a manner that allowed the majority of the gang to be tried and convicted, rather than buried. This would allow them to be questioned regarding any knowledge of other gangs in the area as well as to repay some of what they stole by working in work gangs – clearing roads, digging ditches, that sort of thing. The women also returned as much of the booty that they found with the gang to the guard post to be returned to its rightful owners – and got themselves a handsome reward, in addition to the fee for the job itself and the sale of the horses. This more than made up for what they spent on their own chainmail; they decided to price out some armor for the horses and decide what kind and how much to purchase in the morning. Right now – they deserved a healthy dinner and some serious ale.

Whitestar had Healed not only their wounds, but those of the horses before they bedded down for the night. Her Healing Gift was not generally geared towards animal healing – but she could do it passably well for minor wounds, at least. There were Healers that specialized in animal healing, and she had learned some basics for the purposes of Healing _dyheli_ should they require it, or even her bondbirds. They spent the following morning buying the daily necessities that they had identified they would need, then headed over to the armory. They decided to invest in a bit more chainmail armor for themselves – they had only purchased tunics, at first, since it seemed the most crucial and they couldn't afford a full set. But now they purchased gauntlets, thigh armor, and calf-guards. This left their heads and their joints the only points of exposure, and those couldn't be covered because it would restrict their movement in the case of the joints – their faces, it was rather obvious, and Taia didn't like wearing a hood. She felt it impeded her vision and her flexibility. They couldn't yet afford the chainmail armor for the horses, but they decided to stick around town for awhile and see if they could make more coin.

So they spent a moon making weavings, wood carvings, doing odd jobs. Taia taught some weapons classes, Whitestar served at the Healer's tent. When they had made enough coin, they bought chainmail armor for the horses' heads and necks, to go over their backs and rumps and fasten to a sheet that went under their bellies and protected their chest, and some leg guards. They were all well-outfitted now. Most people did not spend so much coin or effort on horse armor; but most people were not Shin'a'in, and even those who were did not have the limited access to horses that Taia and Whitestar did. So they considered it coin well-spent, since it would save them both the trouble of having to potentially ride regular horses as well as trying to get replacements. They did, however, only buy two sets – they would each only be fighting on one horse at a time, after all. They stayed in town a bit longer, partly because they were enjoying the town and partly because they wanted to make sure they had enough coin to pay for inns and food for themselves and their mounts – as well as the official packhorse – on their journey. They had made mistakes, and would probably make more – but hopefully, not the same one more than once.

After a little more than a moon, the women decided it was time to take off. They had found a representative of the Flying Eagles troupe, and were informed that they were indeed accepting new recruits – provided they could pass the weapons testing. Taia was fairly sure they both would, and they would be in high demand as well for their mage and Healing abilities. So they headed across Jkatha in the direction of the troupe's stronghold, which was near Hawk's Nest – the town that Idra's Sunhawks founded in the time of Tarma shena Talesedrin, the famous Shin'a'in Kal'enedral who fought with them, and apparently Brandi and Jacqui some years later. As much as they had enjoyed their time in Kata'shi'a'in, they were both happy to be back on the road and headed for their goal. Jkatha was a big country, though – and crossing it on horseback, particularly when they weren't in a particular hurry, would take most of the rest of the season. That meant they would arrive at the stronghold right at the start of fall – a busy time for mercenary troupes, winding down existing business before winter hit and all the new flare-ups that couldn't wait until spring. That would be better, though, than getting there just before winter. There wasn't a lot of business for mercenary troupes in winter, as no one wanted to fight in the snow. Only troupes who really needed the coin took those jobs. If there was work, they would likely have to travel to a hot country like Seejay or the Haighlei Empire, and that was quite a trek. Taia thought they were arriving at the perfect time – enough time to get some work, but also get a bit of a break. As inexperienced as they were, Taia wasn't sure she wanted to start off with a full season.

"I am having a hard time reconciling the fact that we are actively hoping for jobs fighting people, instead of healing them," said Whitestar.

"Me, too," said Taia. "Before that first bandit attack, it never occurred to me that my weapons training was specifically geared towards the purpose of killing people as quickly and efficiently as possible. Oh, I knew that's what it was for in theory, but in practice? That's a whole different level of 'real'. Even the offensive mage techniques were just theory, and I have yet to use them in practice at all. I'm excited to use my skills and be paid for them, but I'm dismayed at the reality of what that will mean."

"One thought makes me feel better about it," said Whitestar. Taia looked at her expectantly. "The fighting is going to take place whether we are present for it, or not. But if we aren't there, maybe the people doing the fighting aren't as skilled as we are, and as a result there are more deaths, not fewer."

Taia saw where this was going. "So, even though our skills are specifically geared towards violence – except your Healing Gifts, of course – by us doing it to the best of our ability, particularly if we incapacitate instead of kill, it's actually a mercy," she said.

"Yes," said Whitestar. "It's maybe a self-serving reasoning, but that doesn't make it not true. I mean, sure, we'll be starting at the bottom, and maybe we won't make a big difference, but if we're as skilled as we seem to think we are, we'll move up quickly – and then maybe we will."

Taia laughed at the joke – she had always been told by her Shin'a'in instructors that she was uniquely gifted, and Whitestar had trained hard enough to be almost as skilled. And their encounters with the bandits had gone fairly well. However, she had no real idea how that measured up with actual fighters. True, the Shin'a'in trained as warriors from the time they could walk – which was some time after they learned to ride a horse – and she knew they had a good reputation as fighters. But they rarely actually fought anyone. The Plains were their own defense most of the time – the reputation of the Shin'a'in, put together with the sheer walls of the crater, the weather, the inability for people unfamiliar with the Plains to find water or even their way around – people who knew the paths in could enter, but outClan did not learn such things. Ever. The closest that anyone not Shin'a'in got to the crater was Kata'shin'a'in itself, which was several candlemarks from the actual crater, and not in a direct line to any of the paths. Most Shin'a'in never left the Plains; and it was even rarer that an outClansman made it onto them – and unless escorted by a Shin'a'in themselves, none made it out.

"That's an interesting way of looking at things," Taia said. "I guess…it's kind of in line with what Brandi said. Take what gifts the Goddess saw fit to give me and use them to the best of my ability to improve the world. It just so happens that the Goddess saw fit to give me gifts of violence."

"It is a difficult dilemma," said Whitestar. "We want to help people, ultimately, and eliminate the need for killing. But the skills we have – are for killing. So we have to use them in the best way we can in order to eliminate the need for our own employment. If we were less moral people – we would sign on with the highest paying mercenary troupe, not the one with the reputation for picking the most ethical side of a battle."

"But we at least make an effort to be responsible," said Taia. "Even if our actual skills are for death and destruction, maybe the best way to use them are against the evil people in this world and to defend those who can't defend themselves. I guess there is moral value in that."

"Indeed," said Whitestar.

After about a moon and a half of riding, with several bandit attacks along the way in which the women incapacitated the bandits and delivered them to the nearest guardpost, the two travel-weary women arrived at the stronghold of the Fire Eagles. It was a large encampment, set in the forest with half-walls around the camp. There were small towers at regular intervals with lit torches contained in metal enclosures. Each tower was emblazoned with a carving of an eagle streaming flames from its wings. It was beautiful, actually. They introduced themselves to the sentries at the gate and were directed to follow the page summoned to guide them to the Captain's tent. Inside the walls, there were semi-permanent huts constructed, each with a firepit for cooking and split logs around them for seating. The roads were not paved, but well-pounded dirt which made them smooth and clean, with foliage along them in between the huts. They were led along a winding path – not unlike those within the Vale – where torches were lit at intervals to provide lighting.

They were instructed to wait outside a large hut – the only one that seemed to have its cooking area within its walls. The page entered the hut and after a brief pause returned and ushered them in.

"Greetings," said a tall, well-muscled man said. He had dark hair, well groomed, with white at the temples. Clean shaven, he appeared to be middle aged. He wore a dark grey uniform with many ribbons on his arm. "I am Jareth, Captain of the Fire Eagles. I understand you wish to join. Please, tell me why you feel you are qualified."

He was not unfriendly, but very professional and a bit intimidating.

"I am Taia shena'Pretera'sedrin k'Treva. I am Shin'a'in, adopted by k'Treva Vale of the Tale'edras. I am an Adept class mage trained by the Tale'edras as well as a trained Shin'a'in warrior. I am particularly skilled in sword and bow, but am able to fight with shortsword, knives and hand-to-hand as well," said Taia, a little nervous.

"I am Whitestar k'Treva Pretera'sedrin. I am a Healer Adept mage of k'Treva Vale of the Tale'edras. I am also a skilled warrior, skilled in sword and bow fighting as well as knives and shortsword, alhough my hand-to-hand skills are simply average," said Whitestar, perhaps more nervous than Taia.

Jareth suppressed a smile. "Very well," he said. "You will be welcome to camp with us for the night. The page will show you to where you may raise your tent. In the morning he will fetch you for your trial. Should you pass, you will be accepted into our ranks as journeyman fighters of the Fire Eagles. If you perform well, you may advance as your abilities reveal."

Taia smiled. "Thank you, sir," she said, and bowed. Whitestar bowed as well.

The page returned and showed them to an empty area, still within the walls but not amongst the huts. This was where they were to camp and keep their horses. The bondbirds made themselves at home in the trees for the night; Taia and Whitestar put up their tiny tent, laid out their bedrolls and went to sleep. Tomorrow would be a big day.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter ten**

The next morning, Taia wished she had asked whether or not armor would be needed for this test. She opted to go without – she doubted the mercenaries conducting the trial would actually try to kill her. It helped that Whitestar could Heal her of anything but a fatal wound, and even then might be able to if she began quickly enough. They rose before the page came to get them and were just finishing gathering their weapons. The page seemed impressed, and ushered them directly to the trial grounds. There was a flat circular area in the center of the camp; Taia could tell by the size and central location they used it for gatherings as well as these trials.

"First we will test your abilities with a sword. Please prepare," said Jareth, who seemed to appear out of nowhere. Taia and Whitestar worked through one of the Shin'a'in sword dances. They were beginning to draw a crowd; most of the mercenaries enjoyed watching the recruit trials, but it seemed they were even more interested to watch the Shin'a'in and Tale'edras pair. The women finished their dance, and indicated to Jareth that they were ready.

"The Shin'a'in will be tried first," said Jareth. "Stand your guard."

Taia did as she was instructed, and Whitestar backed out of the way. Jareth began an attack move, and Taia parried easily. Jareth was very good – he would have to be, to be made Captain of a mercenary troupe, particularly one with a good reputation – but it was clear that Taia was a match, and he was impressed. He made a gesture with his hand, and another mercenary joined the attack; Taia drew her second sword and parried that mercenary in a single motion. Jareth continued to signal mercenaries until Taia was fighting against six mercenaries at once, and then called a halt to the sword trial.

"Excellent," he said. "We will test your other abilities as well, but now the Tale'edras."

Taia stepped back and Whitestar stepped forward. The process repeated – Whitestar had some difficulty against all six mercenaries together, but she held her own. It was clear to Taia that she would not have been able to do so for long – but then, the trial didn't last long, and Whitestar would never be fighting alone. Taia would always be by her side.

"Good," said Jareth. "Since mercenaries rarely fight alone, we will test your ability to work together. Stand and fight as a team."

Taia was a little surprised by this, but impressed; it was an effective means for testing whether or not a recruit would take orders and work with the troupe or if he would fight only for his own purposes and glory. She and Whitestar stood back-to-back and successfully parried a dozen mercenaries before Jareth declared the sword test complete and successful.

The process continued with bows, knives and shortswords, ending with hand-to-hand combat. Both women passed easily, although it was evident to them that they seriously underestimated this trial. They were impressed by the rigorousness of the Fire Eagles' standards, but getting tired by the minute. Still, they persisted. After the foot-fighting trials, they were surprised to be taken through the trials again – on horseback. It was somewhat abbreviated, however, and when they had finished those, Jareth allowed a break for lunch.

"This is really rigorous," observed Taia. "I'm surprised. This troupe is small, but if everyone has to pass a trial like this, this is a very powerful mercenary troupe, and I'm glad we decided to join. I mean, I assume we'll pass the trials and be accepted, we haven't been defeated in any of the fights."

"Oh, I get the feeling they're quite impressed with us," said Whitestar. Unlike Taia, Whitestar didn't ever forget to extend her Empathy to find out how people were feeling around her. Taia had spent too long with other people in her head to go about actively trying to get into theirs without a good reason; besides, being Shin'a'in, magic was never her default.

"Well, the mage trials are next; we'll see how it goes after that," Taia said.

After a hearty lunch, the women were taken to an area to be tested by the mages. They were asked to demonstrate various attack spells, to link to each other and to the troupe mages, and to demonstrate that they could utilize ley lines and nodes. When this was completed, Taia stepped to the side while the Healers examined Whitestar's healing abilities. Finally, the trials were complete, and Taia and Whitestar were taken back to the circle where Jareth waited for them.

"You have been tried in all of your stated abilities and been found worthy of the Fire Eagles," he said. "Welcome. You will be accepted with the rank of journeyman under the command of Lieutenant Milna," Jareth indicated a tall, wiry-looking woman at his side. She appeared unassuming, but Taia was sure that she wouldn't want to cross her. Jareth approached each of them and pinned a small broach in the shape of an eagle with flames emitting from its wings to each of their tunics.

"To Taia and Whitestar, newest members of the Fire Eagles, may your flight be long and may your fire burn eternal," he said. The troupe cheered them and they were escorted to one of the huts – apparently, upon acceptance to the troupe, members were granted a hut to live in.

Taia and Whitestar moved their meager belongings into the hut and arranged them. There was a weapons' stand near the door; it was not large enough to hold all of their weapons, but there were also pegs in the wall from which to hang their bows and quivers. It was small – a bed on one side big enough – barely – for both of them, a table with two chairs, and a smaller table with a bowl and pitcher for washing, and a very small trunk for clothing. The floor was packed dirt and the roof was thatch; outside, they had their own firepit and split logs to sit on. Taia liked it – it was similar to a Shin'a'in tent, only slightly more permanent. Whitestar was a bit harder to please, having grown up with the luxuries of the Vale; but Taia was determined to improve the place at least somewhat. But for now – it was time for dinner. And Taia decided there was no time like the present for getting the materials for that home improvement; she wanted venison. So she went out on her horse to find some.

Within a candlemark, with the help of Ryki, she had found a doe. After confirming that there were no fawns, she took the doe down and brought it back to the hut. She skinned it – the hide was going to make a rug for the hut, at least for now; she hoped to get a bear later in the season – and prepared the meat. The bondbirds were content to divide the innards amongst themselves for their dinner, while Taia salted the meat that could not be consumed before it spoiled and hung it high in a tree to cure. She put that night's dinner on a spit over the fire and began to roast it while she and Whitestar scraped the deerskin clean. Eventually, Taia would need a rack to stretch skins on if she were going to do this regularly, but for now she simply cleaned it and rubbed the oils into it before using their knives to attach it to the sitting logs, which she repositioned to function as a stretching rack. They could eat inside until the skin was ready to remove. By now the meat was well cooked, and the women sat down to eat it with a bit of bread they had left over from their travels. In the morning, they would have to find out where to find more foodstuffs; their supply was gone. But it had been most definitively a successful day, and they laid down on their bed…and did not go to sleep immediately.

The next morning, they ate a bit of leftover venison cold for breakfast – there wasn't anything else – and set out to replenish their stores. They needed to set up house; they weren't traveling anymore. They would be able to get things like seasoning, butter, cheese. Fruit, even, and vegetables. They rather wished they had arrived in time to plant their own garden; but perhaps they could still plant a few winter crops, so they decided to do that. They asked their nearest neighbor where they could go to purchase these things and were directed to the market.

As they wandered through the booths, collecting various foodstuffs and other necessities like small clothes and soap, they realized their food supply wasn't the only thing that was low – so were their finances. This was a problem, not as serious as it had been at the beginning of their travels. They could feed themselves, and while they would have to purchase feed for the horses, they didn't have anything else they needed to buy. But they would need a payday of some sort, and soon.

"I suppose that's the dilemma with mercenary troupes," said Taia. "It's nice to have a hut to live in, but the fact that we're living in it means we aren't making any coin. We don't get paid until the troupe is hired for some purpose, and completes the job – and doing the job requires travel. Which we can't afford to do right now, either, since we're out of travel rations."

"Guess we'll need another side job, or need to sell some weavings. Maybe you could make some bows for the troupe members," said Whitestar. That wasn't a bad idea. Shin'a'in bows were in high demand, and particularly this far from the Plains it was unlikely any of the troupe would have one. If she had some steel, she could even make knives – or swords, if she had a lot of it.

"I think I will try it, it doesn't cost us anything to cut some branches and make them, so even if no one wants them I won't have lost anything in the effort. And I will ask around if anyone needs a small job done by just a few fighters, and not a whole troupe – but I doubt that they will. It would be a very brave – or very stupid – bandit gang to operate this close to a mercenary stronghold," said Taia.

Their purchases complete, and their coinpurses nearly empty, they returned to their hut and put their purchases away – which is when they realized they had nowhere to put the foodstuffs. So, into the saddlebags they went, and Taia went about gathering wood to make a cabinet. She had never made a cabinet before, but figured she could. Which was when she realized she didn't have an axe. So many things she hadn't thought about ahead of time. She went and asked around and got an axe she could borrow. It was dull, so she sharpened it. Then she found some good logs in the woods and split them into boards. She used her knives to make holes for pegs to hold the boards together, then whittled the pegs to be used as nails. She made a cabinet with three shelves; she wished she could fashion a door, but she couldn't figure a way to make hinges with what she had. So instead she tacked a piece of squirrel skin over the front until she could make something better.

She carried her cabinet into the hut, and hung it on the wall; Whitestar filled it with foodstuffs. They sat down to eat the meal Whitestar had made while Taia was playing carpenter – venison, of course. Neither of them wanted to hunt another animal while they had perfectly good meat right here; that was wasteful of the life the Goddess had seen fit to let them take for their own food. When they were finished, Taia cleaned and re-sharpened the axe she had borrowed before returning it. The owner was appreciative that it had been returned in better shape than it had left; so Taia took the opportunity to ask him about jobs in the area or any market for what she and Whitestar could sell.

"Certainly, there would be much interest in Shin'a'in bows. Even this far, the reputation of your people precedes you. And weavings – well, we make some decoration for our homes, so likely those would sell as well. I will not promise you a price, however; our income is as precarious as yours, and we are loathe to part with it. However, perhaps we could trade, rather than buy and sell. I know most of these people have gardens in which they grow more vegetables than they themselves can use; there are even a few people with sheep for wool or chickens for eggs, and there are even a few goats for milk. If you are willing to trade for those items, rather than coin, you would likely have more success," he said. Taia was excited by this – since those were mostly what they would have spent their coin on anyway, and she was more than happy to support her mercenary comrades rather than the sellers at the market.

"That sounds like a perfect plan," Taia said. "I will get started on bows right away, and Whitestar will weave some baskets. We don't have any wool to weave with, yet, but we will surely rectify that."

The man smiled, nodded, and bid her farewell. Taia returned to tell Whitestar what she had learned, and both women got started collecting materials to make things to trade. They were well on their way to having a supply to trade for vegetables, wool, eggs and milk – when the call came. The troupe had a job.

Taia was tired. She was tired, she was dirty, and she was sore in muscles she didn't know she had. They had been down in Seejay for a little more than a moon now, on their third campaign, in the hot, wet, sticky jungle, fighting battle after battle in the pay of a noble who was trying to keep his land and people from being conquered by another noble. At this point, all Taia really wanted was a bath and to sleep for a week. Every battle was a deadlock, while the two sides just ground away at each other in pretty much equal measure. They needed something, anything, that would turn this war in one direction or another; without it, both sides would just run out of troops and resources with nothing decided. Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing, really, neither noble gaining power or influence over the other's land – only it was rumored that the attacking noble had virtually enslaved his people. Taia didn't really want him to maintain his kingdom, so they fought on, searching for a strategy that would turn the fight to their advantage.

"Get down!" she heard, and despite the fact that there was no 'down' to get to – she ducked into her horse's neck and held one sword over her head while she fought on with the other. Leaving one side exposed, she felt something slice into her leg, but it didn't feel fatal so she ignored it until the hail of fire arrows was over. Her horse screamed – one of the arrows had found a chink in his rump-armor. She pulled the arrow out as quickly as she could – the wound bled and there was some singed flesh, but the remaining armor did keep most of the fire away from Myk's skin and it didn't appear to be a serious wound. Her leg, on the other hand, was bleeding profusely. She looked down; all she could see was blood. _Sheka_.

 _:Lovey, if I provide you cover, can you kindly stop my leg from bleeding?:_ she sent.

She felt Whitestar's assent, and soon she felt a heat and healing energy throughout her leg. The bleeding stopped; the wound was not fully Healed, but that would wait until after the battle. It was one thing for Whitestar's attention to be split long enough to keep one or both of them from bleeding to death; for her to do so long enough, mid-battle, to fully Heal a wound would be foolhardy. Taia looked behind her and noted that Myk's wound also had stopped bleeding; apparently Whitestar was feeling generous.

 _:Thank you. Myk thanks you as well:_ she sent.

 _:It didn't take me any more energy or focus to stop the bleeding for both of you than one, so I thought it was worth it. This battle needs to end soon, though – my shoulders are killing me. I'm not sure how much longer I can hold these swords up, much less swing them, and my shields are wearing thin:_

Taia agreed with that. It was difficult to maintain shields around their Empathy in a battle, and without the shields they felt every death, every injury around them. All the fear and anger of every soldier on the battlefield – that was wearing. And without the shields, Taia knew it wouldn't be long before it would drive them insane. She sent some mage energy across the lifebond link and augmented Whitestar's shields, and felt her mate's gratitude.

The battle did come to an end, again without either side gaining – or losing – even an inch of ground. Taia and Whitestar relieved their horses of their gear, cleaned them, rinsed the gear. Taia fed them while Whitestar Healed their wounds. They walked – painfully, in Taia's case – to the nearby stream, removed their armor and their clothing and waded in; it was murky water, but the only way to even feel remotely clean after that battle. At least it got the blood off – and covered them with dirt, instead. They emerged feeling not one bit fresher than they had when they entered, but nonetheless picked up their clothing and rinsed it out in the same murky stream. Then Taia picked up their chainmail armor and brought it with her back to their tent. Everyone else was likewise naked, having done the same thing; they were all too tired to care or notice, even if some of the troupe's members did come from cultures that were more modest than either the Shin'a'in or the Tale'edras.

After the first day of battle, before Taia and Whitestar had developed a routine, they had stayed on the battlefield for awhile to try and help collect the bodies, dispatch those too far gone to help – and it was a horrible thing to see. Bodies, strewn all over the field, human and horse together, no longer even apparent which had been on which side. The screaming of the dying, the struggle and screams of the horses who didn't understand why they couldn't get up or why they hurt, the wails of the family members – the mercenaries often fought alongside the regular army, so those fighters' families were present. The ground was soaked red with blood, slippery with it. After a whole day of battle, neither Taia nor Whitestar were able to hold their shields against that, and so after that first campaign – they tried to stick it out for a while – they made sure they were not specifically needed and left the battlefield clean-up to the camp staff and the locals.

They returned to their tent and each put on a dry shift. They hung their wet clothing on the line to dry – in this environment, it would take several days – and sat down to clean both their weapons and their armor. When they were done with that, Taia set to work repairing the armor both for the humans and horses, then re-fletched the arrows that needed it. It was good to have bondbirds – there was no shortage of feathers. Whitestar Healed the bondbirds of their minor cuts and scrapes, then put some rabbit on the spit to cook. It had been Tyke's turn to hunt for the group today, and he was inordinately proud of his delivery of an entire rabbit for each person – or bird – present. Syen would be hunting tomorrow, and they could reasonably expect venison – the birds had a bit of a competition going on which could provide the best meals on their "off" day from the actual battle. Taia was just happy that they didn't have to depend on the camp cook for food, and instead of stew with less and less fresh meat in it every day, they got fresh meat every night and only had to depend on the camp cook for the bread and kava or ale. They did, however, donate any leftover meat they had to that camp cook for the improved nutrition of their comrades. They had debated the possibility of having all four birds hunt for the whole camp instead of fighting, but decided that not only would that decimate the animal population in the area, it was of quite a bit of value to have them in battle instead. Sera and Ryki focused mostly on snatching arrows out of the sky, at least the ones coming from the direction of the enemy; Syen dove and attacked the actual humans. When Syen hunted, however, there were three arrow-snatchers; Tyke was a skilled and acrobatic bird, but not big enough to actively attack an enemy in the context of an entire battle.

When Whitestar was done with her share of the weapon cleaning, she headed off to the Healing tents while Taia finished up with the armor. She also re-sharpened every blade and checked each for imperfections; it wasn't likely that a chip in a blade would cost her a battle, but there was no sense in losing an advantage for laziness sake, either.

"Don't wear yourself too thin," said Taia, knowing that her mate would do so regardless. Healers – they were always draining themselves to the dregs to Heal just one more patient, despite the fact that they end up so drained that they are in danger themselves. What could she do, though; it wasn't like she could stop her. So instead, Taia kept feeding Whitestar her own energy, since she wasn't using it much anyway. She used her Fetching Gift in battle to avoid being hit by arrows sometimes, used mage lights to light her area so she could see to continue working when it got late, and was open to being drafted by the mages instead of the warriors if they decided she would be better used there. But her sword skills were so advanced, they thought she would be more useful on the field. She sighed. She'd actually be grateful to let her muscles rest for a day or so and use her mental ones instead. But she was not in command. She was a simple soldier.

But just in case, when she finished repairing and re-sharpening all the weapons, Whitestar wasn't back yet, and Taia didn't expect her to be – she got up and found Milna's tent. She found the lieutenant finishing up the same chore Taia had just completed. She looked up at Taia's approached and stopped her work. She looked at Taia expectantly.

"Good evening, lieutenant," Taia began. "I don't mean to interrupt, and I just as surely do not mean to offend."

"What is it, recruit?" said Milna. "You and your mate have performed quite well on the field, are you adjusting well? Are you unhappy?"

"No, lieutenant, I mean yes, I mean – we're fine," Taia stuttered. She wasn't really sure which question she was answering. "I had a question about the overall strategy. We don't seem to be making much progress, but maybe there is something I am not seeing."

"No, you're correct, we are at a dreadful standstill. Our force and the enemy's are roughly equal, and we've been entirely unable to make any headway," Milna said, with an air of frustration – but with the situation, not with Taia herself.

"Might I make a suggestion?" asked Taia.

"Of course," said Milna. "Let's hear it."

"Well…..we've been using the same strategy for the whole month we've been here. It's predictable. It's really only luck, I think, that the enemy hasn't figured it out and changed their strategy yet, but I think it's only a matter of time. We need to try something else," Taia said.

Milna sighed. "Yes, you're right, but do you have any ideas for what that strategy should be? You haven't been fighting in battles very long, sometimes new eyes are a good thing."

"I do, actually. What if we pretended we were retreating? We could even retreat along two different routes; I mean, we're one mercenary troupe. There are others, it isn't even out of the realm of possibility that if we were actually retreating, we would take different paths. I think it would be irresistible for the enemy – they would follow and likely attack. Only we'd be prepared, and close on them from two sides, instead of a direct head-to-head like we've been doing. They'd be surrounded," Taia finished.

Milna was impressed. "But here's the downside of your plan – how would the one side communicate with the other? How would we know when the two sides should turn and attack? If it's to work, they would have to do so at the same time. We can't send a signal, and we are the only troupe with mages to speak of – they can't Mindspeak with the other troupes. What is your solution?"

"Well, that's easy. Whitestar will go with one side, I will go with the other. We don't even need Mindspeech, we can send the signal along the lifebond. That eliminates the possibility that the enemy mages could "eavesdrop", even if that was possible. An alternative solution is the bondbirds, but that leaves the possibility of delay," Taia said. She wasn't sure why that was so complicated – surely, the mages could have split up? But no, they didn't like to be separated. They were particular that way.

"Solid plan," said Milna. "If you would do me the favor of finishing up my weaponry for me, I will go suggest it to the strategic committee and we will likely follow through in the next day or two. My thanks."

Taia took her place and completed Milna's weapon cleaning. She also re-sharpened all of Milna's blades – most fighters did not do this after every battle, but Shin'a'in did. You never knew when it would make the difference in your battle success. She checked Milna's armor for flaws and repaired what few she found, and then returned to her own tent. Whitestar had preceded her and already collapsed onto the bedroll – Taia joined her, and they slept the sleep of the dead until – well, until just before dawn, when the bell was rung to wake the troops for another day of battle.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter eleven**

The day after Taia had her discussion with Milna, it was announced throughout the camp that they would be following Taia's suggestion. It was, of course, not common knowledge that it was Taia's idea – and she was thrilled with that. If it failed, she didn't want the entire troupe blaming her. If there was a troupe left at all, that was. If it succeeded, she didn't particularly want the attention that would bring, either; she was a new recruit. She didn't want the leadership thinking she was trying to take over. She had no interest whatsoever in leading this troupe – she really just wanted to sleep for awhile. But she was excited to try something different, particularly if it worked. So the troupe packed up quickly, making certain to give the appearance that their weaponry was not easily accessible. They wanted to really lure the other side into an attack. It was announced which troupes would be taking which routes; Whitestar went with the others, Taia went with the Fire Eagles and the troupes "retreating" with them. Taia was a little worried about being separated, but hopefully it wouldn't last long.

The troupe began their "retreat" in an orderly fashion, and in exactly the manner a troupe would be expected to retreat – noncombatants first with the wagons, then the troops themselves in back to guard the rear. The only change was that the troops marched significantly more slowly than they might have in an actual retreat – this was to allow the noncombatants to get a head start, so that they would be out of the way when the fight began. They also wanted to appear defeated, so as to lure the enemy even more effectively. Taia was nervous – but excited. She sensed that Whitestar was nervous, as well. But Taia was hopeful that this strategy would be effective.

They marched for a few candlemarks; Taia used her Farsight to see that the enemy was, in fact, in exactly the position most amenable to their plan. They thought they were being sneaky, and pursuing their target from the side in order to be undetected. However, it was just their luck that they chose the side directly between the two "retreating" armies. Taia was almost giddy – and then it occurred to her that this was too easy. What if the enemy, in fact, were the ones laying the trap? And if they were, what could it be? Taia used her Farsight – and added a little mage sight to see if she could determine if that were the case. And then she saw it – the enemy army was marching, but they were carefully concealing that at their center was a cluster of mages. There was one mage that appeared to be the leader, and he was – powerful. The others were average, and mostly their job appeared to be to feed and shield the leader. These mages were – wrong. They were blood mages. She had the sinking feeling that they had, in fact, been there all along – but they weren't very powerful on their own, and were just waiting for the blood of the battle to be sufficient to power their abilities enough to actually do something. She sent a silent warning to Whitestar and an image of what she had seen – careful to use the lifebond, not Mindspeech, so that there was no possibility of being "overheard". It was unlikely that Mindspeech would be overheard by anyone else, but she wasn't taking any chances. She felt Whitestar's shock – and her revulsion.

Blood mages were despicable. They preyed on the pain, suffering and death of others in order to make themselves more powerful – any good mage school taught against it, and in the strongest of terms. The Tale'edras were particularly disgusted by them, as it was blood magic that started the Mage Wars and caused all the damage they were charged with repairing. The Shin'a'in hated blood mages even more vehemently than they renounced magic in general for the same reasons. Taia quickly found one of the commanders and passed along the information she had discovered.

"Other than this discovery, are we ready for the physical assault?" asked Jareth – who happened to be the first commander Taia came into contact with.

"Yes, Captain," said Taia. "But I am concerned about these mages."

"What if you and Whitestar took on the mages, and left the physical fighting to the rest of the soldiers, do you think the two of you could take them? The other mages will be assisting, of course," said Jareth.

Taia thought about this. She had never fought a mage battle before. But she thought that particularly with the help of the other mages, it would be a possibility.

"Yes, Captain," she said. "I believe we can. If the other mages could take on the peripheral mages, Whitestar and I will handle the main one."

"Good," said Jareth. "Let it be as you say. We will begin the assault, please send the word."

Taia did so, with the additional orders specifically for Whitestar. The soldiers on each side turned as one towards the enemy and charged, while the enemy mages revealed themselves – and prepared a great, big, red fireball to be hurled directly at Taia. Apparently, she'd been sensed. No matter – Taia was particularly devoted to shield construction and was sure hers would hold, and nevermind the fact that the troupe mages were specifically supposed to shield her. But it wasn't necessary; from behind the mage came a white hot fireball – from Whitestar, who was none too impressed at a mage attacking her lifebonded. As the mage recovered his shock, smaller fireballs began to be exchanged between the feeder mages and the mercenary mages; Taia readied her own lightning bolt – she preferred them to fireballs – and hurled it at the central mage. He blocked it easily, but Taia kept hurling them, as Whitestar kept hurling her fireballs at him from behind. He fought mightily and well – but he was no match against two powerful mages from opposite directions. He fell. Taia and Whitestar switched their efforts to the remainder of the supporting mages, who quickly followed their leader to the heavens – or one of the nine hells, Taia cared not which.

Taia and Whitestar, having completed their magical responsibility, took up their weapons and entered the physical fray. The enemy was significantly demoralized, having lost their surprise element, but they fought well. However, after a few candlemarks of hard, dug-in fighting it was clear that they were defeated. The survivors surrendered, and they were bound and escorted to their own wagons which were then brought with the army towards the stronghold of the noble they were hired by. When they arrived, the noble took the survivors and put them in his prisons, for the time being; he would later question them and determine whether they were mercenaries, in which case they would be released as being no threat as they were Guild-bound to not attack anyone once the fight was over, or actual citizens of the enemy noble. In the latter case, they would be further questioned to determine their loyalty; if they were a continued threat, they would be sent to work camps, similar to those in Jkatha – clearing roads, etc. If they were not, they would be allowed to return home to their families. Taia had little interest in their fates – she was one step closer to her home, and her bed, and a cooler climate with a bath.

The Fire Eagles held a celebration that night, and Taia was recognized as the one who had originated the successful plan – as well as having both discovered and defeated (with Whitestar, of course) the surprise blood mage. Taia was a little embarrassed by the attention, but excited by her promotion to a level two journeyman. They awarded her a medal to pin on her tunic next to her membership pin; this identified her as a person who could not give anyone orders, but who was designated as a person of contact for the leadership by which to disperse information. Taia decided it was acceptable to have recognition without having any actual added responsibility – she was pretty sure she wasn't ready for that. She was pretty sure she never wanted to be, either – she had quite enough power at her disposal. She could defeat roughly twenty soldiers to her one with physical weapons at a time; she could take on an enemy mage of almost any level and be successful. She didn't want the power and responsibility to be able to order other people to their deaths. It was quite sufficient to have a variety of methods by which to kill them personally.

The troupe camped for the night. In the morning, they would begin the long journey back to the stronghold. Taia was grateful. She had enjoyed her first excursion into battles and war – well, as much as it could be enjoyed, she didn't enjoy the killing or the blood. What she did enjoy was discovering that her training had not been in vain. She had been told all her life she was gifted, and she had had an opportunity to prove that true. And she felt that she was living up to her sister's expectation – while she wished she had been merely gifted as an ordinary Shin'a'in, who could spend her days riding her horse across the Plains and being prodigiously gifted not in weaponry or mage craft but, say, wood carving, she was not gifted in this manner. She had used the gifts she actually possessed to the best of her ability, and perhaps due to both her skill with the sword and mage craft had prevented more damage than would have otherwise been done. She knew that by suggesting their alternative battle plan, she saved both sides a number of deaths in battle, and perhaps prevented the overly ambitious noble from being successful; although, that was up for debate. She had discovered the blood mage before he could complete – whatever damage he had planned to complete had he not been discovered. She believed, at the very least, she had done her very best and perhaps her sister would be proud of her.

The journey back to the stronghold took about a moon; it could have been done faster, and indeed had been done faster on the way to the battle. However, they were not in a hurry, they were battle-weary, and they were carrying wounded soldiers and animals with their troupe, so it took a bit longer. They slept in inns, when they could find a town large enough to house them all. When they couldn't, they camped in fields. The troupe was flush with coin – the noble had paid them more than what they had been promised, as the attacking noble had been virtually destroyed. To his detriment he had put everything he had into his attack, and lost. The surviving noble – by all reports an honorable man – had taken a survey of the lands of the defeated noble and distributed the wealth among the defeated populace as he found reasonable, as they had been excessively taxed for years; the remainder, he distributed amongst the mercenaries he had hired. This amounted to nearly double pay for each fighter, and they were thrilled. Many wasted the extra in celebrations at the inns, when they found them – but Taia and Whitestar saved theirs. They spent some of it for fun, but most of it they saved. Since they had made the mistake of leaving the Vale without significant funds, they didn't ever want to make that mistake again. And since neither was from a culture that operated on coin, neither was prone to overspend it.

When they finally returned to the stronghold, Taia and Whitestar managed to make it to their hut. They cared for the horses – no Shin'a'in would ever see to her own needs before the needs of her mount – and collapsed onto their bed. A bed. A real bed. With a real roof over their heads. This tiny one-room, dirt-floor and thatched roof hut had never felt so luxurious.

The seasons came and went. Before long, Taia and Whitestar were established members of the troupe – not the newcomers. They even started to not just witness the membership trials of new recruits, but to administer them. The troupe continued to be hired by various nobles and lords – sometimes even kings – and they continued to be selective in the jobs they accepted, based on the morality of the choice, the fairness of the pay and the likelihood of success. Taia found that Milna often consulted her on strategy ideas, and that those ideas were frequently – but not always – used by the officers who made those decisions. Sometimes they ended in success, occasionally failure; but Taia was both flattered and terrified that they were using them at all. They became seasoned fighters – and what came with becoming seasoned was watching their comrades fall.

"I wonder who lived in this hut before us," Whitestar said one day.

"Why would you wonder something like that?" asked Taia.

"I was just thinking about the fact that most mercenaries don't live long lives," answered Whitestar. "It's kind of sad, don't you think? I mean, most of these people had to have been pretty desperate to come and risk their lives every day for coin. I wonder why they do it."

"Some of them like to fight," said Taia. "Some are third or fourth sons and can't make a living any other way. Some think it's going to be glorious and they'll use their fighting prowess to woo some woman. Some are likely like us and want to improve the world, but you have to improve the world by working within how it actually works now – and right now, we fight wars. Might as well make sure the right side wins."

"I suppose," said Whitestar. "It just seems to me that I would rather make a living farming or making soap."

Taia laughed. "You don't know how to make soap," she said. "Or farm. You have to make a living doing what you know how to do, first. A lot of these mercs didn't start with this troupe – they started with one that didn't have such a good reputation, but it was easier to find someone willing to teach weaponry – or they were lucky and succeeded in trial by fire. The company was formed by a bunch of mercs who wanted to have a highly skilled troupe that fought only for a good cause, and not for, say, a blood mage."

"And a noble goal that was indeed," said Milna, overhearing their conversation as she walked up to the pair. "Taia, I am pleased to announce to you that one of the generals is retiring, and I am being promoted to their position. I have recommended you as replacement for my position and Jareth agrees that you are to be promoted to lieutenant in my place."

Taia was stunned. She wasn't sure what to make of this. They had never talked about remaining in the mercenary company; they had agreed to sign on for a year, and when that year was over they'd either leave or sign on for another year. Being made an officer – well, that more or less made this a career decision and they would be staying – not necessarily forever, but it was irresponsible to accept the position of officer and then just leave.

"Thank you," she said. "I can't accept, however, without talking to my partner about it."

"I understand," said Milna. "The ceremony to officially appoint your – and my – promotion will be the day after tomorrow, so please let me know what you decide as quickly as you are able so that should you decline – and we all hope that you accept, you would make an excellent officer – we can nominate an alternate."

"I will let you know by the end of the day," said Taia. "And thank you, again. Regardless of our decision, it is an honor to have been nominated."

"The honor is mine," said Milna. Milna turned and went back in the direction of her own hut.

"What do you think?" asked Whitestar. "Do you want the position?"

"I think I do," said Taia. "But it's not just up to me. If I took the position, it would mean staying on with the company. We hadn't talked about staying on past a year, and you were just talking about risking our lives. If you don't want to stay on, we'll leave. I go where you go."

"Don't be silly. If you want the promotion, take it. If I want to stop risking my life on the field, I'll just join the mages or the Healers full time, and stop swinging a sword," Whitestar replied.

"Well….that pretty much makes us career mercenaries, even so. Is that what we want to do?" asked Taia.

"Do you have a better idea?" countered Whitestar. "We can't go live on the Plains, unless we joined Wolf Clan, and I don't think either of us would truly be happy never using magic again – even you. We could go back to the Vale – but I think both of us would find it rather stultifying after having done this. I think that's something we can do upon retirement, should we live that long. But this gives us the opportunity to see the world, use our skills, and meet all kinds of new people – I'm finding that I really enjoy it. If it comes with the battles and the risks, well, I guess that's what makes it a life, right? Otherwise, it's really just living. We wouldn't be really accomplishing anything. And I don't think that would make either of us happy anymore. Your sister was right – but for both of us, not just you."

Taia considered that. Whitestar was right – she hadn't really planned on being a career mercenary, but she could see that unless they wanted to just be a roving pair of do-gooders picking up a series of odd jobs on their own, it was really the only option they had other than returning to the Vale or joining Wolf Clan. Returning to the Vale would be stultifying – she already knew she would be restless there, it was the reason they were here in the first place. And as much as she had only ever wanted to be a regular Shin'a'in riding the Plains – Whitestar was right. Joining Wolf Clan and never using her Gifts again would be just as stultifying as the Vale, just in an entirely different manner.

She realized, at that moment, that her original wish to simply ride the Plains was the dream of a child. One without any knowledge of the world, without any understanding of who she was, and one who didn't know anything about how to live a life. That was the thing about children – they were children. They didn't have any adult responsibilities, no Gifts, no expectation to do anything to contribute to the world around them. And that was how it should be – but she wasn't a child anymore. She was a grown woman with Gifts, skills, responsibilities. And staying in this troupe was the best use of those skills and Gifts she could offer. And it offered her something in return – comradery. She enjoyed the company of her fellow mercenaries. The job was more reliable than being do-gooders on the road, and provided friendships and a sort of family at the same time; she couldn't ask for anything more than that. It was more than she had ever truly hoped for.

"Ok," she said. "You're right. It's decided, I'll accept. We're career mercenaries now, how does that feel?"

"A little scary, and a little exciting," said Whitestar. "Pretty much like every major decision we've ever made."

They both laughed at that. Taia went to tell Milna of their decision and to thank her again. She had a question, though.

"I have a small herd of Shin'a'in mounts that are being kept for us near our Vale. When we set out to join a mercenary troupe, we had only planned on signing on for a year; we didn't know if it would work for us, and hadn't planned past that. But if we're going to stay on here, and since I am to be made an officer as well, I will need to bring the herd here. Right now, there are only five grown horses beyond what we have already and some foals; however, there will surely be more. It could take up a bit of land for their grazing, but any of the horses that I chose to sell as geldings the troupe would of course have first choice of. That won't be for awhile, since I have so few, but certainly it's an option in the future," said Taia.

"I think that's a definite possibility," said Milna. "We currently have ownership of only the land here that you're familiar with – but it isn't out of the question that we, as a troupe, or you and Whitestar could buy some adjacent land for your herd when it is large enough to need it. But how would you get them here?"

"That was the other half of my question," said Taia. "We would need to be either granted leave for two moons to go and fetch them, or one of the troupe's contracts would need to be significantly closer to the Vale for us to be able to get them. And I don't know which would be easier."

"Would you be averse to traveling during the winter season?" asked Milna. "As you know, this is the busy season for us – in fact, we leave the morning after the promotion ceremony for our next contract. But if you were willing to travel in winter, you would be granted leave for your trip at that time."

"That is an excellent idea," said Taia. "We are willing to travel during the winter season, and we certainly don't want our personal needs to inconvenience the troupe. Thank you."

Taia left and returned to her hut. She told Whitestar the plan to travel during the winter season.

"Well, it will be cold – but we can afford warm fur cloaks at this point, or make them ourselves. So I think that's a good idea," said Whitestar.

"I thought it the best option. We don't know when or if a contract will bring us close to the Vale, and we can't really leave the troupe during the busiest part of the season. Particularly not just after I take an officer position," said Taia.

The promotion ceremony was a small affair; the troupe gathered in full dress, armored and armed. The retiring general stood facing the crowd while Jareth listed his accomplishments and thanked him for his service. He was presented with a small statue of the Fire Eagle emblem. He thanked Jareth and his fellow officers and also the troupe for their service and camaraderie, then returned to take his place in the crowd.

Milna was then called to the center. Jareth listed her accomplishments and announced her nomination to the position of general.

"All those in favor, say aye," Jareth stated, and the 'ayes' reverberated through the crowd. Taia was nervous – she hadn't realized the troupe would vote on her promotion. Milna accepted her promotion and her ribbons and she, too, thanked Jareth and the other officers, as well as the troupe.

"Taia shena Pretera'sedrin k'Treva, please come to the center," Jareth said. Taia obeyed, and kept her hands clasped behind her so that they couldn't betray her nerves.

"You have been presented as an able candidate to fulfill the role of Lieutenant for this troupe. This position carries with it the responsibility of commanding the troops in your division and participating in all officer meetings to present their needs and assist with strategy. You have demonstrated that you are capable of contributing to strategy discussions as well as the ability to distribute information accurately to your comrades. Do you accept this nomination, and the responsibilities it holds?"

"I do," Taia said.

"All those in favor, say aye," Jareth said. Taia was surprised to hear the 'ayes' reverberate again.

Jareth presented her with the ribbon denoting her new rank, and she returned to the crowd. The ceremony was over; the troupe now had a feast, to which the bondbirds had contributed a large portion of the meat – they were definitely earning their keep, as well as the respect of all the cooks. They were also earning the little tidbits the cooks gave as thanks. Taia and Whitestar left the party happy and tired – and ready to leave the next morning for their next contract, and Taia's first as an officer.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter twelve**

"TAKE COVER!" Taia yelled at her squad. Things were not going well. They had taken this contract knowing that it would be difficult, but not knowing it would be this difficult. As it turned out, one of the mercenary troupes whose numbers would have made this war a difficult but accomplishable one – backed out at the last minute. They would be fined by the Guild and lose quite a bit in their reputation, but the damage here was done. So now, not only were they involved in a conflict that would have been difficult to start with, but they were outnumbered. And it was starting to be a problem.

Taia and Whitestar were fighting with everything they had, but it was clear from the beginning that this was going to be a losing campaign. And they weren't willing to die, or to sacrifice the troupe itself in service of the campaign, even though they believed that the noble paying them was in the right. Being right doesn't help much when you're dead. The Guild did have provisions to allow mercenary troupes to get out of their contracts in situations like this, but it wasn't the best idea to use them. While it was allowed, it tended to diminish the troupe's reputation, and so this was a provision that was only used in the most dire of circumstances. So Taia raced her horse towards Jareth as fast as she could go – she needed him to call a general retreat.

"Sir," she gasped, out of breath. "Sir. We are going to lose this battle. We need to call a retreat, at least for the day or we are all going to die."

"I agree," said Jareth, in between parrying off the enemy swords. "Pass the word, retreat to the nearest safe zone."

Taia thought quickly about this. She didn't think there was time to ride her horse to each and every squad leader, or even to designate people to pass the message. But she didn't need to. She was a very powerful Mindspeaker. Most people with that Gift could not bespeak those without the Gift – but she could. The Fire Eagles were a large group, but backed with all the mage energy she possessed –

 _:Do not be alarmed. This is Taia shena Pretera'sedrin k'Treva, Lieutenant of the Fire Eagles. Retreat to the nearest safe zone. I repeat, retreat immediately to the nearest safe zone. This is an order from Jareth. Retreat.:_

Jareth looked at her, a little shocked, but didn't say a word. Taia raced her horse back in the direction of Whitestar, fighting off enemy soldiers every step of the way. They met in the middle and fought together until they were able to regroup with the Fire Eagles in the safe zone, their camp about a candlemark away from the battlefield. Taia was already feeling the reaction headache, but it wasn't long before Jareth found her.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

"I happen to have a very strong Mindspeech Gift," Taia explained. "I didn't think I had time to ride around to each squad leader before the army collapsed, so I thought that in the interest of having as many of our troops survive as possible…I'm sorry, sir, if that was the wrong thing to do."

"Not at all," said Jareth. "It was brilliant, actually. Except this – the enemy soldiers. They knew we were retreating, and that put us at risk. So next time – "

"No, sir," Taia interrupted. "The message only went out to Fire Eagle members. The enemy did not hear me. I focused on the message only going out to those wearing our emblem."

"Good. But how did I hear you? I don't have a Mindspeech Gift," said Jareth.

"It isn't common that someone with the Gift can bespeak someone without it," Taia said. "My Gift, however, is strong enough that I can – although I have never done so on that scale before, and it won't be possible for me to do that unless it is a dire emergency, sir. It…isn't easy."

"I have worked with mages and Healers," said Jareth. "I am familiar with reaction headaches, and I can see you are experiencing one. Thank you, Taia, for your quick thinking and your lifesaving solution. Take your leave, and we will speak again in two candlemarks. Reaction headache or no – we need a new strategy."

Taia saluted, and Jareth returned to his own tent. Whitestar was making some willowbark tea and Healing the horses of their wounds – this time, they were serious enough that the replacement mounts would be used the next day, at least. Whitestar then Healed Taia's wounds as well as her own. Taia sat and cleaned her weapons while Whitestar Healed – now that Taia was an officer, the same amount of post-battle work needed doing, but in less time so Taia could make it to strategy meetings; so while Taia finished cleaning and sharpening the weapons, Whitestar cooked the squirrels that Tyke had managed to hunt for them. Tyke was the appointed hunter for the duration of this battle – much to his dismay, he was simply not big enough to be able to help with the battle without an almost certainty of being killed. Taia had reservations about her own birds' safety as well; they were confined to plucking arrows from the sky and were forbidden to actually attack. Only Syen was big enough for the occasional attack on an actual soldier, and even she was discouraged from doing so with any frequency.

Taia then sharpened all of the weapons as quickly as she could while Whitestar re-fletched the arrows – and then it was time to run to the meeting. Taia gulped down her willowbark tea and grabbed her squirrel meat and a crust of bread and ate on the way. She was still working on the meat when she arrived at the officer's tent. She saluted the page with her other hand and ran in.

"Good of you to make it," Milna teased. "We were discussing how horrible this campaign is going, and trying to find a way out of the contract before our entire company is decimated. At this rate, there is no hope of success."

"I have an idea," Taia said around a mouthful of bread.

"Well, let's hear it," said Jareth. "Anything would probably work better than the current efforts."

"We need a night squad," Taia said.

"What?! Divide the army?! Are you crazy?! But that's immoral!" everyone erupted at once. It was true, that having a night squad would subtract some of the troops available during the day. It was also true that it was an unwritten rule that fighting at night was not done. But Taia was done with playing by unwritten rules – the written ones of their contract were going to get them killed. She wasn't about to sacrifice all the soldiers' lives, including her own and Whitestar's, for some unwritten ones.

"Hear me out," said Taia. "I don't like the idea of dividing our numbers either, but the straight-on approach isn't working. I'm not talking about a large force, or even a normal one. I'm talking about our bondbirds, particularly Sera – she's the owl-eagle – and a few mages, maybe a small band of skirmishers. Not a large force. Send them in to just harass the enemy. Attack this tent, that tent, starting some of them on fire and attacking the inhabitants of others – and then get out before the enemy wakes up and fights back. Go to a different part of their camp each night, so they don't know where to expect it. They'll exhaust themselves setting extra guard, they'll think they're being attacked by demons – particularly from the mage attacks – and their daytime fighting will be less effective. I think it's our only option, other than breaking our contract."

The officers discussed it. They debated pros and cons until they started repeating themselves, and then they decided that Taia was right – there wasn't another option. And at least it was worth a try. So they assigned a squad of about twenty fighters, five mages and the bondbirds and decided they would start on the east side of the enemy camp that very night. They would be allowed to participate in the morning campaign should they wish, but were expected to remove themselves from battle by high midday, and would fight under a different general every day so that they would be "retreating" from a different part of the field every day. And the bondbirds would absolutely not be fighting during the day; they were too recognizable.

Taia returned to her tent, exhausted – but with some hope that this would prove successful. The bondbirds – including Tyke, who was ecstatic to be allowed to participate in actual battle again – took off with the skirmishers and mages to prepare. The next morning, when Taia awoke the camp was alive with excitement. The nights events proved even more successful than Taia had imagined; the enemy was in disarray, the skirmishers hadn't lost a single member – and they would be out of the fighting all day that day, but thought there was no reason they couldn't rejoin the next morning. There was hope again for a successful outcome.

So the campaign proceeded. It was still the most difficult campaign they'd ever undertaken, there was still a high likelihood that they would be unsuccessful; but there was hope. And that was everything. An army that has no hope of success fights like they have no hope of success – not well. There was a new pride, a new fervor in their fighting; and greater despair, greater desperation, in the fighting of their enemy. The Fire Eagles and their allies were still outnumbered, but every morning they encountered an enemy that was more disheveled, more exhausted, more desperate. Eventually they succeeded, and the enemy was actually defeated. Taia was surprised; she had thought that her plan would give them time to come up with a way out of the contract. She hadn't expected it to actually result in the success of the campaign itself.

They received double-pay from the noble, who had also been anticipating defeat since he had received word about the mercenary troupe that had reneged on their contract. He offered land to the troupe in exchange for their promise to stay on as citizens of his lands and fighters in his army; but Jareth declined the offer. He instead asked for horses in trade, since they had lost roughly half their troupe's mounts in the battles. Taia and Whitestar ended up riding some of those replacement mounts themselves to their next engagement; their mounts weren't killed, but they were injured severely enough that they shouldn't be ridden for at least a sennight while Whitestar Healed them in the evenings, and they stayed towards the rear of the troupe in the march so that they could go more slowly.

Unfortunately, despite their overall success, there were enormous losses. Among them was one of the generals – a much loved general named Jamis. He had fallen in the action of taking on one of the enemy generals, a large man on a horse swinging a spiked mace from each hand from a chain – it was an extremely effective weapon, taking out a swath of soldiers with every swing. Jamis was successful, miraculously so – but did not survive the attack. He saved the lives of many men with his sacrifice, and he would be greatly missed. Taia was nominated to replace him. She was shocked – she had only just gotten used to being Lieutenant. And now they wanted her to be a General. Which meant she would be responsible for commanding five squads, not just one. But she supposed she could do it. After all, it was basically the same as being a Lieutenant, just…..bigger. She could do it. She would do it.

She had very little choice – there wasn't anyone else.

They finished the season relatively intact; both Taia and Whitestar had some nagging injuries that were held together by nightly Healing efforts, but didn't have time to fully heal; so did the horses. Taia grew accustomed to her role as General – and her new time commitments. It had been difficult enough as a Lieutenant, having to add strategy meetings to her post-battle responsibilities; now, in addition to those meetings she had to hold separate meetings with the Lieutenants under her command so that she could address their specific concerns relating to the soldiers themselves. They were optional for the Lieutenants – if they had no specific concerns, they didn't have to attend, and Taia had not always attended them when she was a Lieutenant. She would simply address the concerns of her squad herself, when possible. However – they were not optional for a General. So they were held immediately after the strategy meetings; after all, they were already there. All they had to do was walk together back to their tents.

Even at the end of the season, they couldn't just go back to their hut and rest; they had to get to the Vale and retrieve the rest of the herd. Taia wasn't even sure how many there were; she knew that the four mares had been pregnant before they left, but the foals would only be half-grown by now. They may not have all survived, or there may have been twins born to one or more of the mares. She was rather excited to find out. They were unable to maintain any sort of pace, with their current mounts not fully up to par; but they left at the start of winter in high spirits.

"I wonder what the foals look like," said Taia. "I wonder how many there are, and how many of each sex. It's going to be a challenge to build a healthy herd with so few founding animals."

"I wonder if there would be any time for Brandi to meet us with some studs for the mares we have with us," said Whitestar.

"That is an excellent idea," said Taia. "I'm going to find a way to make that work."

"I bet you will," joked Whitestar. "You have surely demonstrated a way to make most anything work."

"I don't know if it's anything I've actually done or if it's just luck," said Taia. "Or even just a simple lack of anyone else to do it."

"I think it's likely a combination of all three," said Whitestar.

"Are you ever jealous?" asked Taia. "I mean, here I am, getting promoted and promoted, and you're basically my equal on the field – but you aren't getting the promotions."

"Goddess! No! First, I don't have your gift for strategy," said Whitestar. "I don't see the whole picture of what's happening on the battlefield, all I see is this guy is trying to kill me or you and I need to stop him. Second, I'm a Healer. If I had to attend all of those boring meetings, with all those Generals arguing, and hand-wringing, and strategizing – not to mention managing the problems of the Lieutenants and the soldiers' concerns – I would never get any rest. I wouldn't have any time for the Healing tents, and that would make me feel like I wasn't contributing everything I had. No, I am not the least bit jealous."

"Good," said Taia. "I figured if you were, I'd know; but I also thought it worth discussing."

"Absolutely, but never worry about that. This officer business is your thing – the Healing tents are mine. We're both happier when we stay in our own element!" said Whitestar. She was right about that.

They rode on, switching mounts halfway through every day to give all four horses as much of a break as possible, staying in inns so that they – and the horses – would have a more comfortable night to rest than they would if they camped. When they got near enough, Taia sent a handwritten message to Brandi by way of Tyke, who was excited to have a responsibility all his own, to meet them at Kata'shin'a'in with studs to mate with the three mares, if she was so willing, and if she were feeling particularly generous any other horses she felt able to part with. Taia didn't want to be greedy, but she was sincerely hoping that Brandi would allow her to take at least one horse – in trade for a foal, if Brandi preferred, but one horse – because she would, if Brandi was able to deliver, be returning to start the next mercenary season with three pregnant mares and four mares with foals not-quite-grown. The foals would be weaned, but it would be better to not lose their mothers just yet. Her only available and un-tethered horses to ride into battle would be her two stallions – one for her, one for Whitestar, and no back-up mount. The mares with the yearlings were ridable, but the foals would not be even ready to train for another year. The pregnant mares would be ridable as well – but definitely not the preferable mounts. If one were injured, or even lost – it would be two horses lost out of her small herd, not just one.

"I wonder if the Vale has changed," said Whitestar.

"I think it likely that we have changed, and so it will seem different to us," said Taia.

"I'm nervous about seeing my family," said Whitestar.

"Me, too," said Taia. "But you know what I'm not nervous about?"

"What?" asked Whitestar.

"Using those glorious baths," said Taia. They both laughed; the baths were something they were definitely both looking forward to.

After a little more than a moon, they arrived at the Vale. More accurately, they arrived at the edges of the Vale where the _dyheli_ were keeping up with Taia's small herd – and they were pleasantly surprised. Not only were the foals all healthy, but there were five of them. One of the mares, a pretty little paint named Lys, had birthed twins. And there were four fillies out of the five foals – one colt, which would – at least for this generation – make it easy to breed the next to the maximum number without inbreeding, when they were old enough to breed. Taia was ecstatic.

Whitestar was equally ecstatic to reunite with her family – only for all of them to realize that while they loved each other deeply, they couldn't really relate to each other anymore. Whitestar's parents had never left the Vale; they had never done anything other than Heal their own injured members and cleanse the Pelagiris as the Tale'edras had been bonded to do. While there was nothing wrong with that life, it wasn't one conducive to understanding the trials of a battlefield, or even just living among Outlanders. Greyhawk was somewhat easier to relate to; as a scout with no magic, he had left the Vale, though not its territory, and had interacted – mostly in an observational fashion – with Outlanders. But still, it was not at all what they were expecting. They had expected to come home; instead, they felt like visitors in what used to be their home. It was sobering. They had left here barely more than children; they returned as adults, fully-fledged, and with experiences far removed from what any of the Vale inhabitants could identify with.

The baths, though, were everything they remembered and more; so was the feast held in their honor, complete with _tervardi_ singing. Despite feeling like visitors in what had once been their home, Taia and Whitestar enjoyed their visit. They emerged refreshed, fully Healed – their mounts, too – and ready to return to the mercenary life they had left.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter thirteen**

They left k'Treva early in the morning after a visit of a little less than a sennight. They wanted to make it to Kata'shin'a'in by that evening; they were meeting Brandi and Jacqui for a short stay, during which Taia would be allowed to use stud service from one of Brandi's stallions. Brandi had also agreed to give Taia one additional horse for the promise of one foal from that mating, and a gelding she would have otherwise sold, which Taia thought was a more than fair deal. That would give Taia a total of eleven grown horses and five yearlings, with two more foals on the way that she would be able to keep. It was still a small herd by Shin'a'in standards – she would eventually want to have three times that, roughly, to have a solid herd of her own. But it was an excellent start. This was, of course, significantly more horses than a single Shin'a'in would hold on the Plains; a single Shin'a'in would usually hold two to four individual mounts, plus a few more for breeding purposes that were shared throughout the Clan. But she and Whitestar were basically their own tiny Clan. A Clan would hold about a hundred horses, on average; while it was still a lot of horses for two individuals, they would need that number to keep the bloodlines strong for breeding. Too few horses, and inbreeding becomes a problem. Also, if they were going to make a life as mercenaries, there was a high probability that many of their mounts would not live to a ripe old age. It made sense to have plenty of replacements.

"I'm not sure how to feel about that visit," said Whitestar. "I mean, I love my family. I love the Vale, and I love being Tale'edras. But it was strange – I felt like I didn't really know them anymore. I don't feel like I have anything in common with them anymore, really. It doesn't feel like home anymore; our hut is home."

"I think we just grew up," said Taia. "That, and our life with the mercenaries….is so very different from the life in the Vale, or even on the Plains. The Shin'a'in train as warriors – but the only thing they usually fight is a deer or a rabbit. Very few of them actually fight in battles or against actual people. The Tale'edras – they fight magical beasts, but that's a completely different kind of battle. And neither of our peoples ever really leave their homes. We did."

"Plus – when we left, we were little more than children. We're not anymore. It might just be a factor of growing up, seeing home with the eyes of adults with responsibilities, not children with rose colored glasses," said Whitestar.

"Yes," said Taia. "I wonder what it will be like to see Brandi again, if it will feel the same as seeing your family or not."

They rode in silence for awhile, reflecting on the changes in their lives. Whitestar was equally mourning her childhood home and feeling grateful for the life they had and the home and experiences they were building together. Taia secretly hoped that her sister, at least, wouldn't feel too different. She knew she could never go back to the Plains; she had accepted that. But to lose the familiarity and comfort of her relationship with Brandi as well….

They arrived at the designated inn at Kata'shin'a'in. They were there ahead of Brandi, so they took the liberty of obtaining rooms for both couples as well as sufficient stall space for the horses. That took some doing – Taia required space for ten horses and five half-grown foals, and Brandi would need space for four. It was, however, Katashin'a'in – a city accustomed to Shin'a'in horse traders, so they were used to accommodating travelers with large numbers of horses. They had just completed making the arrangements when Brandi and Jacqui arrived; they dismounted and greeted each other before going inside to eat dinner.

"So," said Brandi. "How are you liking the merc life?"

"Well," said Taia, "we've found that it's working really well for us. We kind of realized when we left you last that we weren't at all prepared for life outside the Vale or the Plains – "

"Apparently, the outside world uses a lot of coin," quipped Whitestar, "who knew."

They all laughed a bit. Taia told Brandi of their realization that they were so grossly underprepared and about their solo bandit run in order to finance just their trip to get to the mercenary troupe.

"You took on a band of twenty bandits?! By yourselves?!" she was shocked.

"I'm not sure we realized we shouldn't be able to," said Taia. "Looking back, it probably wasn't our brightest move. But it worked; we figured, too, that what we couldn't do with the sword we would be able to do with lightning bolts shot from our fingernails, and despite that being exceptionally unfair to our enemy, we weren't going to sacrifice ourselves on the altar of fairness, either."

"Well I guess that's something," said Jacqui.

"In any case, by some miracle it worked," said Taia. "We made enough coin from it to buy armor for ourselves as well as the horses. Have you seen that chainmail?"

They showed Brandi the chainmail, and she agreed that it was far superior to anything she had ever seen. Smaller chains, lighter weight, more flexible – and still strong enough to block an arrow and even a sword.

"You bought armor for the horses, too?" asked Brandi. "I've never heard of buying chainmail for horses. Leather guards, yes, but chainmail?"

"Well, we realized we didn't have sufficient armor for ourselves. I realized after the bandit raid that a war was going to be much more intense, though I had no real concept of how much more. I knew I didn't have a lot of replacement mounts available to me and getting more wasn't going to be easy. So protecting the horses I had was paramount," said Taia.

"That was good thinking," said Jacqui. "Apparently you made a quick and full recovery from the foolishness of your departure!"

They all laughed at that.

"So, how long are you going to stay in?" asked Brandi.

"Well – they made me General," said Taia. "So I guess we'll be there for awhile, at least. Which is probably for the best – we can't really live on the Plains or in the Vale. If we have to live with Outlanders, we have to make a living; and, well, this is what we can make a living at."

"General?" asked Brandi. "Well, you're just full of surprises. How did that happen?"

So Taia told them about first being promoted to Lieutenant when Milna was promoted, and then about being made General after a campaign where many soldiers were lost.

"I guess it's a good thing that they think I'm talented enough to be General, but it's kind of hard taking the position knowing it's because someone probably more qualified died," said Taia. "I also didn't anticipate how hard it would be to be surrounded by so much death and dying while I have an Empathy Gift."

"I hadn't thought about that," said Brandi. "Obviously, it isn't an issue for me, being unGifted. But it was still difficult to be responsible for so much killing or to watch my friends and comrades die."

"Whitestar made the point though, that the fighting and dying would happen with or without us," said Taia. "So in order to use these gifts as the Goddess intended, as you have reminded me is my duty, I am trying to use them to result in the greatest good and the least amount of death and pain possible. Maybe someone without my gifts wouldn't be able to do as well. And I also suppose that if I am any good at it, the higher up I am in the ranks the more success I will have."

"Kind of a depressing way to look at the world's realities," said Jacqui. "But true, nonetheless. So let's drink to your talents and promotions and try to make the best of it."

They did just that. In the morning, they went out to the horses, planned what they would do and discussed Taia's needs. "It seems you have enough mounts, just not enough that aren't burdened with foals or about to be impregnated," said Brandi.

"Yes," said Taia. "And therein lies the problem. I have to breed them in order to maintain and increase the herd, and in order to assure that I will be able to obtain adequate replacements should they be killed in battle. But if I breed them, they will be essentially unavailable to use in battle for two years – the year they are pregnant, and then the year they spend with dependent foals."

"Your yearlings will be trainable in another year, and that will give you a good break. You can ride them and re-breed their mothers. Although since at that point, your existing three mares you rode for this season's battles will have foals, you may want to rotate a bit. You may want to do that anyway; it's not good for mares to be continually bred."

"True. I think what I would like is to get two ridable horses from you, if you're still willing," said Taia. "That should give me enough to last the next season, and by then the yearlings will be trainable and their mothers can be ridden the following season. The season after that – I will ride the yearlings and breed their mothers again. I think if I plan farther ahead than that, I will get a headache."

"And there is the saying – no battle plan survives first engagement with the enemy," said Brandi. "With any luck at all, your mounts will survive long enough that the loss of one will not prove to be disaster. In any case, we brought some geldings to sell at the market; I'd be happy to give you one of those. I have a mare I planned to give you in exchange for a foal from the stud service my stallion is about to provide. That should suffice, don't you think?"

"Quite nicely," said Taia. "With the armor we bought the horses and Whitestar's healing ability, I think the chances of the mounts surviving at least one more season are good. Not guaranteed, of course, but good. Thank you."

They spent a sennight reconnecting, mating the three mares Taia and Whitestar had ridden into battle to Brandi's stud, and discussing the best ways to utilize the gene pool Taia had available to her. Taia was left with two stallions to use in battle plus the gelding and mare that Brandi had given her. Taia planned to mate this mare with one of her stallions as soon as one of the yearlings was trained so that she could increase her pool of available mounts as quickly as possible. The herd was growing nicely – she had five yearlings, two stallions, eight mares and three unborn foals in addition to the gelding, who would make a lovely mount but obviously would not be contributing to the size of the herd. The gelding would likely also be sold as soon as a second yearling was trained, but perhaps she would keep him in favor of preserving the lives of the breeding horses; she wasn't sure.

They said their goodbyes after that sennight and said a toast to the Fire Eagles who had fallen in battle. The next day – despite the remaining effects from the previous night's kava – Taia and Whitestar left to return to the Fire Eagle's stronghold, and Brandi and Jacqui – having sold their remaining geldings – returned to the Plains.

After another moon of travel – made more difficult by having to find housing for the entire herd – they returned to the Fire Eagle stronghold. They made sure the new horses were made at home in the troupe stables, and then returned to their own hut.

"I think it would be best if I rode the two stallions during campaigns," said Taia.

"I was going to suggest the same," said Whitestar. "I prefer mares, but I tried out that gelding on the way back. I really find him to be quite a comfortable mount."

"Good. We should spend some time tomorrow with the new ones and make sure we're used to them. Also, I want to begin training with the yearlings. They're too young to ride, but not too young to learn to walk on a lead and wear a bridle, or to learn some basic voice commands," said Taia. "I want them to be fully trained by the time they're two years old so that they can be used. I don't want to use them that young if I don't have to, but I want to be able to, at least, if it's necessary."

"That sounds like it will take up most of the days. I was hoping to get some skins prepared, but hopefully we'll have time to do that, too – or at least have another day before we leave on campaign," said Whitestar. She had become the official tanner of the two of them; they had each taken up new skills of making their own equipment, and Taia proved better at making weapons while Whitestar worked with the skins and leather. Taia had even started making chainmail of the type they had purchased in Kata'shin'a'in; she thought she would make each of them a spare set and perhaps even specially fitted armor for all of the battle-mounts, but that was a long way off from being finished. She was working on making armor for her comrades, first; both for the extra coin as well as to keep them alive.

They went to bed, and after awhile – to sleep. It was lovely to be in their own bed again, and they slept long past when they would have normally awakened. They spent what remained of the day working with the horses, particularly the gelding, mare and stallion they would be riding into battle in the coming season. The second stallion was a black horse with red undertones named Ishim; Taia entertained the idea of breeding her herd for appearance, at least in part. Shin'a'in horses were bred for intelligence, strength and stamina, with appearance being of no importance. But Taia thought that since her herd was going to be fathered more or less by two stallions and the occasional infusion of new blood by way of stud services provided by Brandi's herd, there was no reason she couldn't make some movement toward breeding in some attractive appearance. She would hardly be able to help breeding in the black colors of her two stallions; good thing she liked black horses. Shin'a'in horses were generally thought of as extremely intelligent and high-quality, but ugly; she wondered if she could change that.

The gelding was named Jys, and he was a solid brown; the mare Brandi had given was a butter-cream color and was named Mina. They were good, solid mounts; Taia saw some traits of a battlemare in Mina and wondered whether or not she would ever have an actual battlemare. Shin'a'in battlemares were even more intelligent than the "regular" horses, with more intensive training for battle. They were bigger, hardier, and all-around more suited for battle than any of the other Shin'a'in mounts – really, any other mount at all. They were universally mares and almost always reserved for the Plains; the only exception was the legendary Tarma and Kethry, who had ridden battlemares in their respective mercenary experiences, and Kerowyn, Kethry's granddaughter. Seeing as how she didn't have a battlemare in her herd, and the Clans were unlikely to allow her one – not even Brandi would be that generous, and Taia didn't think she even had one – so she thought perhaps she would begin to breed her own. She was not, however, exactly sure how to do that. It would take some thought.

When they were through, they worked together on finishing the skins they had collected on their journey – rabbit, squirrel, a couple of deer; they had scraped them immediately, but the rest of the tanning could and did wait until they were done moving. They finished the processing and set them on the racks to dry and stretch. The squirrel hides would provide wrappings for sword, knife and bow grips; the rabbit would line their boots. They would need more for the cloak, glove and hat linings, but they had all summer to work on them. The deer hides were used to cover the floor and walls of their hut and tent so that they could stay warmer at night. They would also get some to use as blankets for the horses. When they were finished, they were starving. They cooked the rabbits Tyke had caught for them – and skinned and scraped the deer Syen had killed, the rabbits and squirrels that Ryki and Sera had gotten. The tanning of those skins – would have to wait, as they started their next campaign in the morning.

This campaign wasn't far away, thankfully; just a bit north on the border with Karse. Another land dispute, of course; nobles could never agree where the borders were, and couldn't stop themselves from throwing away the lives of their people and their sons in order to make that border exactly where they wanted it to be. But – it was silly disputes like this that kept mercenary troupes in business, and the mercenaries themselves fed. So – the next morning, Taia loaded up her packs on Ishim and the saddle on Myk, while Whitestar loaded up Jys with her packs and the saddle on Mina. They loaded up the tent, camping supplies, and all their weaponry supplies – extra arrows, the cleaning and sharpening equipment, the feather bag for the fletching, handle wrappings – on Jessup. He was a good packhorse – never complained, was always ready to go. Taia was glad they had him, Shin'a'in or not. She almost wished she hadn't gelded him; his personality would have been a wonderful addition to some of the herd, though it would have been blasphemy to breed him with a Shin'a'in mare even if she would accept it. Taia would, however, have liked to breed him to some of the troupe mounts.

They left just after breakfast and rode towards their appointed camp. This was one of the fights where they were just hired; neither party was definitively in the right or in the wrong, it was just a fight. It was hard to get morale up for a fight like that, when the only reason they hoped to win was to survive and get paid. It was easier to fight when there was a cause behind it, when there was a definitive thing to fight against; the other guy was a bad ruler, abusive to his people, or had attacked out of the blue. This – was a territory dispute where neither noble was either a saint or a despot, the argument had built up over several years with a skirmish here and there that neither side could really remember which had started it and had turned into an all-out war. They were evenly matched, as far as numbers; Taia wasn't sure about skill level, but she had a feeling this was going to be another grind-it-out, whichever side comes up with the best strategy first wins kind of war. She was tempted to start with the night raids again, but night-fighting was fairly unusual. If her troupe made it a habit, then they would get that reputation and it would lose its effectiveness. She'd have to come up with something else, or her comrades would. She sighed. Nothing she could really do until they saw what they were working with.

Speaking of seeing what they were working with – no reason she couldn't use a little Farsight. So she did; there was no reason she couldn't do so while riding, either. Shin'a'in could do just about anything while on horseback. She cast her Sight far to the north, over villages and cities and forests until she reached the hold of the noble that had hired them. She looked around the field and noted the camps of the other mercenary companies hired by "their" side as well as the guard of the noble's own army. Then she looked to the east, where the "enemy" noble held his camp. She was a little alarmed – it appeared that they would be outnumbered. And then she was more alarmed – she saw a bevy of mages in the enemy camps, where the noble who had hired them had only the mages that were in the Fire Eagle's company. She had a feeling she and Whitestar would be complementing that group, rather than the field army, more often during this campaign than they wouldn't.

"I think we're going to be mages this time around," she said to Whitestar.

"Why do you say that?" asked Whitestar.

"I decided to use Farsight to scout the other side in comparison to ours. They have a bevy of mages on their side, whereas we only have the mages in this troupe – the other merc companies don't have them, and the noble doesn't either. There is no way the established mages of this troupe can hold out against the other side. They're good, there just aren't enough of them," said Taia.

"I guess you're probably right, then. Well – good thing we're so good at both!" joked Whitestar.

"Yeah, I guess. I was really looking forward to seeing how well Ishim did in battle, but there will be plenty of time for that I suppose," said Taia.

"It's always about the horses with you, isn't it," joked Whitestar.

"Pretty much," said Taia. "I guess we'll just wait and see."

They rode on to their first rest stop on the journey. Taia made sure to update Jareth about what she had seen.

"We will definitely want to use you and Whitestar as mages rather than field warriors then, at least until those mages are whittled down to what the regulars can handle," he said.

Taia sighed. Testing Ishim's battle readiness would wait.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter fourteen**

It was pouring down rain when they arrived for the first day of battle. All things considered, Taia supposed it was lucky that they were officially mages until the bevy on the other side was whittled down – swordfighting in the pouring rain was miserable. It was bad enough to not be able to see well while swinging sharp objects at each other, bad enough to keep footing in the mud, but the horses slipped that much more easily, too – usually right onto a pike. And they sunk, if the mud got deep enough; and this was the kind of rain where it just might. Taia didn't want to lose Ishim on his very first day just because it was muddy.

Nevertheless, the battle was beginning; plenty of mercenaries on both sides of the battle would be riding their backup mounts the next day, if they had one, or becoming infantry rather than cavalry. Taia had no doubt that some of them would be asking to use Jessup, but Jessup was not up for grabs. He had been a bandit horse; used to small skirmishes, but he shied away from the sounds of real battle. He would not serve anyone well, and may well get them killed; besides, she liked their packhorse and didn't want to give him up. She hoped none of them would be so audacious as to ask to use one of their backup Shin'a'in mounts; Outlanders did not ride Shin'a'in horses, unless it was one of the geldings that was sold.

Taia and Whitestar took their places among their own company mages and prepared to take on the enemy bunch. They began with a focus on solid shielding, and then began to attack – and noticed that the enemy mages were already attacking, but they were attacking the soldiers on the field. They were hitting soldiers from both sides, and they didn't even seem to care. Taia was enraged. She constructed the biggest lightning bolt she could, drawing from every bit of node energy available to her – which, incidentally, was every node within a distance halfway to the Vale itself – and hit the entire bevy with it at once. It was a risky move, since it would leave her open afterwards to attack while she recovered her strength – but she was completely enraged, not really thinking about anything after this first strike. She felt Whitestar follow her lead and throw the biggest fireball at the mages she had available, immediately following the lightning bolt, which was enough time for Taia to recover and throw the next one. They took turns like that, lightning bolt, fireball, lightning bolt – not allowing the enemy mages to recover long enough to return fire. The other company mages worked to counter the attacks on the field soldiers, and were having reasonable success.

They kept it up for several candlemarks; these enemy mages were powerful, and it was a full bevy of them essentially against Taia and Whitestar. Taia could already feel the reaction headache. She knew Whitestar would have one as well, but wouldn't quit after the battle but go on to the Healer's tents – so she redoubled her efforts. She wanted this mage battle over. She pulled ruthlessly on the node energies within her reach, much of it now from leagues away. The other mages were finished countering the field effects and focused their energies on sending their own attacks against the enemy bevy. They were starting to weaken; Taia had felt a few of them fall. No time to let up, though – lightning bolt, fireball, lightning bolt – as large and heavy-handed as she could muster. Finally, at the end of the evening they were down to fighting one mage – their leader. The other Fire Eagle mages had long since given up trying to mount their own attack, having no energy left; they were set instead to feeding Taia and Whitestar the node energy, as every bit fed to them cost less of their own to refine.

When the day was over, the enemy mages were dead. So were a larger number of the soldiers – on both sides – than had been expected, due to those mages' actions. Taia and the rest of her troupe – especially the other mages, were livid; it was inconceivable that mages would misuse their power to hurt their own troops. But Taia and Whitestar were spent; Whitestar didn't have the energy reserves left to go to the Healer's tent, she and Taia were barely conscious enough to crawl to their own and drink the willowbark tea that one of the Healers had thoughtfully left for them. They collapsed onto their bedrolls and slept through the night, knowing a vicious headache – as well as a day of swordfighting – awaited them when they woke.

And wake they did, the next morning at the sound of the bugle – with raging reaction headaches. They pulled on their armor, drank the willowbark tea, and ate their breakfast ravenously, having not had the energy to eat the previous day at all. They pulled the armor over their horses – time to test Ishim and Jys – and marched out with the rest of the army to fight. Taia was glad the mage part of her fighting was over; she preferred the sword to her mage Gift, it felt cleaner to her. But very much wished she had the time to recover from yesterday's overuse.

"We should have reacted to those mages with more of a plan, and not just out of anger," said Whitestar.

"We would have lost more troops if we had, I think," said Taia, "but maybe you're right. We may have lost more – but so would they, and we wouldn't necessarily be fighting today with these headaches. Next time…..I will try."

"We could have easily gotten ourselves, and the other mages, killed by reacting out of rage, and not planning," said Whitestar. "Next time, we'd better do more than 'try'."

Taia knew that Whitestar was right. She had reacted to the actions of the enemy mages in haste – and out of rage, not control. The fact that they had won the battle had a lot to do with the fact that they had the sheer power to overcome the enemy, not due to any particular skill. It did not at all reflect the dignity or the quality of her training. Next time, the mages she attacked in rage may very well be more powerful than she – or at least, have the numbers to equal more power than she and Whitestar could present, with or without the other mages. It had been irresponsible on her part, and she said a silent prayer of gratitude to the Goddess for sparing not only her life, but the lives of Whitestar and the other mages despite her stupidity.

"I'm sorry," said Taia. "You're right. I shouldn't be so cavalier with my attacks, particularly when my failure affects more than just my own life. It won't happen again."

"I'm not angry with you," said Whitestar. "I know when you attack with the sword, you have enough experience and skill to fight well even if you do so out of rage. You have a tendency to assume the same is true when you attack with your mage Gift, and while your level of power means that you may have that ability, you don't have the experience to do so as successfully as with the sword. We both need more practice at it. Besides, I joined you in that reckless attack; I could have tried to change our direction, but I didn't. I was just as angry as you. We both need to do better next time."

Taia agreed with that. It was hard to remember sometimes that she didn't have the experience or the finesse with her mage Gift that she did with the sword, despite being fully trained and quite powerful. She didn't use it very often, and a good portion of her training was theoretical, practiced on imaginary targets, not real ones. She resolved that when the season was over, she would set exercises for herself to develop more skill, more finesse, so that she would not be so prone to attack with sheer power, and not skill, next time.

"I think we should perhaps make a point to work with the mages occasionally and not just always fight on the field," she said.

"I think you're right," said Whitestar.

"But not today," said Taia. "Today, no magic. No Mind Gifts. Just the sword; with these headaches that will be grueling enough."

"Quite true," said Whitestar. "Quite true."

And grueling it was. They finished the day's battle having gained more than they lost as a whole, but Taia and Whitestar were exhausted. They cared for their horses, which had performed admirably, and cleaned themselves. Whitestar cleaned the weapons and handed them to Taia, who sharpened them; then while their game birds cooked – Ryki was the appointed hunter that day – Taia repaired the armor while Whitestar re-fletched the broken arrows. They didn't have time to sit and eat together, so Taia took her portion wrapped in a scrap of linen and a mug of kava to the strategy meeting while Whitestar did the same on the way to the Healer's tent – she thought she had recovered enough strength for minor injuries, and even if she hadn't she could still help bandage and stitch. Neither was sure they would be of a whole lot of use in their respective duties, but they didn't have the luxury of declining tonight.

"Welcome, Taia," said Jareth. "You were missed last night."

"My apologies," Taia said. "I was incapacitated by my overexertion against the enemy mages, for which I would also like to apologize."

"Why are you apologizing for defeating the enemy mages in one day?" asked Milna.

"Because I did so out of anger, not planning. It was a dangerous move that could very well have failed, and if it had we would have lost not only myself and Whitestar, but likely every other mage in our camp. Further, the enemy mages would have survived to do the damage to the soldiers that they had planned to do all along, only without interference. My actions were dangerous and unsuitable for anyone, but particularly from someone of my rank, and I accept full responsibility for my error and any consequence you see fit to attach," said Taia.

There was silence around the table. The other officers – particularly the head of the mage division – were stunned. While her rage-fueled attack on the enemy mages was somewhat non-standard, it had never occurred to Bluok, the head of the mage division, that Taia didn't know exactly what she was doing, or know ahead of time that she would likely prevail.

"That is quite a surprise," said Jareth. "I had thought you went into that attack with some planning and forethought, but I see that you didn't. You are correct that this is quite the dereliction on your part, despite the fact that no actual harm has come of it. Tell me, do you have a plan to prevent such error in the future?"

"I do," said Taia. "Whitestar and I would like to work with the mages more frequently in order to gain more experience in mage attacks. We have the skill and the ability, but not the experience; we both believe this to have been the root of my error – skill and ability, but no experience, which as we see in new recruits on the field as well. They believe that their skill and ability will overcome their lack of experience, and that is not the case for them any more than it was for me with mage attacks. Further, in the off season I plan to set exercises to train in attack method – not just ability – for myself in order to improve my ability to perform on skill and planning, and not rage, as I did yesterday."

"Good," said Jareth. "Both due to your willingness to admit fault and plan a corrective measure, I don't feel that a demotion is warranted. However, should this error occur again – and I expect the same forthright admission of error if it should as you have shown today – you will be dismissed altogether from the Fire Eagles with no recourse to reapply. Is that clear?"

Taia nodded her acceptance of his terms. They were more generous than she felt she deserved; she had put the entire troupe in danger due to her mistake. Jareth would have been within his rights to banish her outright for that error, and she had half expected him to do so.

"Good. Now, does any officer disagree with my decision or wish to enforce anything more?" asked Jareth.

"I would like to work with Taia and Whitestar on an exact schedule for their participation in mage attacks at the start of every campaign," said Bluok.

"Done," said Jareth. "Anyone else?"

"I believe regular reports from Bluok during campaigns and during the offseason would be advisable," said Milna.

"Also done," said Jareth. "During the fighting season, Bluok will report directly to me at the end of every campaign, and immediately if he sees a problem. During the offseason, Taia will herself report to me every moon. Now, back to the matter at hand – strategy."

They concluded the strategy meeting, and afterwards all members crawled, exhausted, back to their tents to sleep. They had another busy day of fighting to prepare for.

The Fire Eagles continued their season. They fought many campaigns; some they won and some they lost. They lost many members to death, injury, or the end of their contract and signed on others. The life of a mercenary company was much like any other – things change every day, but they always stay the same. The troupe returned to their stronghold at the end of their last campaign for the season, having not yet lined up another for a moon. Taia and Whitestar were excited to have a whole moon to tan their skins, make more armor, and – just live. Their plan to work with the mages instead of the field soldiers once a sennight had been very successful; both of them were learning to use their mage abilities with skill, more than raw power. This was something they had learned in the Vale, but it was difficult for them to translate to using in the heat of battle. They were also learning to work with a team of mages, rather than just each other with the rest of them as back-up. It was something Taia wished she had spent more time on with the Tale'edras – had they not been so eager to get out on the road and try their fighting abilities, they would have learned to work more as a group with the other mages of the Vale against things like wyrsa, or even some of the particularly tricky plant malformations. They had spent some time working on those things; but most of them had required use of raw power, more than the intricacies of specific spells. And while she had of course learned all of those spells, and had developed proficiency in their use, she had not had the time or the reason to learn when to use them – only how to do them at all.

She was finding that learning to use these skills appropriately in battle was just as demanding as the intricacies of her swordwork. Taia thought that she would continue working with the mages periodically throughout her tenure with the Fire Eagles, and not just until she grew more comfortable with it. She realized that not only did it make her better at utilizing all her skills and more capable of helping, rather than harming, the mage abilities of her troupe but it made her a better officer to be well-rounded in the use of her abilities instead of focusing so hard on just her physical fighting prowess. Her mental abilities were like any other skill; the more she used them, the stronger she got, and one day the lives of her entire troupe might depend on her being able to utilize those abilities to the fullest extent she could – indeed, the failure to do so had run the risk of costing those lives already.

So they spent their mornings running through their mage battle exercises, and after lunch keeping their swordwork sharp. After midday meal, Whitestar worked on tanning skins and making them into boots, gloves, wrappings for their swords and knives, new saddlebags to replace the old, new clothing – whatever they needed most. Since it was winter, they used mostly rabbit furs for their clothing and used the deer hides for everything else. They even had a few wolf, bear or fox skins that went into making cloaks and blankets. Taia spent her time repairing their armor as well as melting down steel that she had either purchased for that purpose or that other troupe members had given her in exchange for making them various weapons or armor. She was growing quite proficient at making that armor as well as making weaponry that was not merely functional, but also decorative with intricate handles and carvings into the blades and handles. She certainly knew people who were more skilled than she, but her work was certainly passable. She also made new points for their arrows while Whitestar fashioned them onto the actual shaft and fletched them. She needed to get down to carving warbows, both for herself and Whitestar and as commissioned by her troupe mates.

With so much work to do, the moon off of fighting passed quickly. They had hardly gotten caught up with their work and started to take some time for leisure when it was time to pack up and leave for their next campaign. This one was north, near Hardorn; there had been grumblings of some problems growing up in that region, as the new King, Ancar, was not well-liked by his populace and was terrorizing some of the towns. The Fire Eagles had been conscripted by one of the Karse border towns to help repel Ancar's forces, and so it would be a long trek just to get to their designated camp. On the morning of departure, they rose before dawn and loaded up their packs, loading up extra skins and cloaks since they would be traveling in winter. Jessup was happy enough to carry it; it would keep him warm during the trek. Also, he was Jessup; he was always happy. They made sure to utilize some of the other skins as blankets particularly for their backup mounts, which wouldn't have the benefit of the human warmth to keep them warm. They had rigged perches for their bondbirds to attach to their horses, so in addition to carrying their weaponry, the backup mounts each had two perches – one for each bondbird. It was unlikely that all four of them would choose to ride at once, and unlikely that Syen would choose to ride at all; but it was a long trek on the ground for them and a long trek through the sky for the birds. They might need a break, and now they could take one. Sera, being the owl-eagle, would likely ride much of the day, as she did much of her hunting at night. The perches were easily converted to stands outside their tent – or inside, if the weather was poor – where the birds slept at night.

The troupe set out at dawn, each rider with travel rations for breakfast to eat as they rode. It was tough slogging through the snow – the troupe had purchased a team of draft horses to pull a plow before the troupe and make their travel easier, but that made for slow going. Taia found that she had plenty of time to work on her production of warbows while riding; a Shin'a'in who couldn't do anything else while riding at even a trot had not yet been born.

"Whatcha makin' there?" asked Jexon, one of the other Generals. "And how're ya able to do it a-horse?"

"I am carving a new warbow for Milna; she commissioned me to make one for her," said Taia. "A Shin'a'in who can't ride and do this at the same time isn't much of a Shin'a'in! We ride before we walk."

"But how's yur horse knowin' what you want him to be doin'?" asked Jexon. He grew up in a mining town, and his accent showed it. He was a very intelligent man, and a good fighter – but often was treated as if he wasn't bright based on his speech pattern. He often made efforts to speak 'proper' when addressing people outside the troupe – but the troupe had long since gotten used to him and knew better than to assume his level of intelligence by the way he spoke.

"Shin'a'in horses aren't controlled by the reins," said Taia. "We don't even use a bit. They are controlled by voice commands and legs – the reins are basically there as a lead should I need to tie him to another horse. So my hands are completely free while riding."

"That explains how yur able ta fight with two blades without losing control of ur horse," said Jexon. "Could ya maybe teach my horse to do that, and teach me ta do it?"

"I can certainly try," said Taia. "Shin'a'in horses have intelligence bred into them, over many generations – no one is really sure how many. It isn't likely that your horse has the ability, but I can certainly try."

"Well, ma horse is Ashkevron-bred," Jexon said. Taia didn't really know much about the Ashkevrons, other than they were lords in Valdemar and one of their lot had been trained by the Tale'edras as a mage and fathered some of their children, Whitestar being a descendant of those. She also wasn't particularly familiar with Ashkevron horses, seeing as she had never had cause to need one; she had heard, though, that they were a good line, and the family were well-known in their land for breeding good warhorses. "Will that make a difference?"

"It might," said Taia. "I don't know a lot about that line, but I have heard that they are better than the average saddlehorse. I'll certainly give it a try."

"Thank ye," said Jexon. "I could stand ta have more use of ma hands in battle, an' less other things ta focus my concentration on – last thing I want'a be doin' when an axe is swingin' at me head is worryin' about controllin' ma horse!"

Taia could sure see the point of that. She wondered, briefly, how much of her and Whitestar's superiority on the field was due not to their own actual abilities, but the fact that they didn't have to use much of their focus on controlling their mounts. Whitestar wasn't born Shin'a'in, of course, but her horse was, and Taia had trained both her mounts and Whitestar herself in riding – so Whitestar rode like a Shin'a'in. She couldn't do quite as many things in a saddle as Taia; but she hadn't started riding when she was hardly more than an infant, like Taia had.

From then on, in the evenings after their daily travel, Taia held training sessions for any troupe member who wanted to try teaching their horse to obey commands Shin'a'in-style. Few of them were able to succeed, but all were able to make some improvements in their riding ability. Some actually were able to manage to both learn the leg and voice controls themselves and train their horses to follow them – and all of those horses, it turned out, were from this Ashkevron line. Seemed like there was something to this notion that they were, while not Shin'a'in, superior horses to the average horse lines.

By the time they arrived at their camp, all the horses – and riders – capable of learning some of the Shin'a'in riding techniques had done so, and the rest of the troupe had learned what they could, as well. Taia had even briefly entertained the idea of breeding her stallions to some of the troupe mares – but decided that would be a betrayal of all things Shin'a'in. Such things were simply not done; Shin'a'in horses were almost never bred to outlander stock, and while she could never go home again, she was still Shin'a'in and would not betray her heritage in such a manner. But she would encourage the breeding of the Ashkevron horses to improve the lines of the troupe horses themselves; most mercenaries came with their own mount, but usually only one. The troupe maintained their own stock in order to provide their troops with back-up mounts, replacement mounts that they could rent out of their paychecks or outright purchase; the horses were also used to transport the troupe supplies, like tents and the cooking supplies for the camp cooking staff. They were a relatively small troupe – but they were well respected, and therefore well-provisioned and well paid.

But when Taia saw the force they had been hired to fight against – she wished that reputation wasn't so good. Because she had no idea how they were going to survive this campaign.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter fifteen**

They were outnumbered on the field, they were outnumbered in mages; the entire army was floundering. And not just the Fire Eagles – they were faring somewhat better than some of the other troupes, and certainly better than the hiring noble's standing army – but they were losing their troops faster than they could replace them. If they didn't come up with something soon, they would all of them perish on this field. They were using every trick they had ever come up with – night attacks, false retreats, everything; Taia had even relaxed her rules against using mage powers on field soldiers somewhat, although she stopped short at incinerating the field. She was perhaps techniccally able to do that, but to actually do it would turn her into a monster. She would rather die a decent human being than live as something she would have fought against.

She did, however, create illusions of troops where there weren't any, in order to lure the enemy troops to a position that would disadvantage them. She felt a little guilty about this, but acknowledged that if they had the actual troops to spare, she would have used them in this manner as well. Which didn't really assuage her guilt, but she also realized she had little choice if they wanted to have any chance at survival – not just for herself and Whitestar, but for the troupe itself, and even the other armies on their side. Whitestar didn't object to her use of illusion and neither did the rest of their mages, or the rest of their leadership; she wasn't sure if this was due to actual agreement or just the desperation of leaders who had no other choice if they wanted to live, let alone win.

"I can't see any way out of this campaign that doesn't end in us all being burned on our pyres," said Taia.

"We don't burn people on pyres in my country," said Milna. "We bury them."

The attempt at humor was appreciated, yet no one laughed. "Well, the Shin'a'in burn their dead on a pyre, so when I fall, which will happen any day now at this rate, please see to it," said Taia.

"Now, if everyone is done discussing our impending doom, I'd like to get back to the business of trying to prevent it," said Jareth.

"Fine, fine," said Jexon. "Anyone got any ideas?"

"Other than a natural disaster, not really," said Milna.

Which, ironically, gave Taia an idea.

"What if we could create a natural disaster?" she said. "Or even just the illusion of one. What if we created an earthquake, split their army in two, so we could fight them half at a time?"

"That…..could work," said Bluok. "Do we want to create an actual earthquake, or just an illusion, though? Because both are possible. An actual one, however, would require the cooperation of the entire mage corps; but it would be real, and a solid barrier. An illusion would require only one or two mages – but if anyone actually crossed it, it would be revealed as fake, and the benefit would be gone. I vote for the real thing."

"Ok, how do we make that work so it isn't a hazard to our own troops?" asked Jareth.

"Well, the best way to do it would be directly down the middle of their army – but in a way that we only have to fight half at a time, which won't work if we do it so that it splits ours as well," said Taia. "Their army lines up by division – infantry, archers, cavalry. If we can divide their army along division lines, we end up dividing it into infantry and archers in one set, cavalry in the other. The mages will not be hampered by an earthquake, real or not – so they will be a factor either way, but they also can't counter a real one. We can rain archers down on their infantry and run the cavalry at the archers, take out the whole bunch. Their cavalry – will fight another day, and we will be ready for them."

"What about their mages?" asked Milna.

"What if the regular mage corps created the earthquake, and Whitestar and I work on their mages? We certainly can't take them out on our own, but we can maybe at least keep them busy. And once the cavalry reaches the front lines – we don't have a lot of strict archers, but we have a few; mages are as vulnerable to archery as any other soldier," said Taia.

"Ok, it's a plan then. Inform your troops, meeting dismissed," said Jareth.

They got up from the table and went to speak to their troops, feeling hopeful for the first time during this entire campaign. The next day, they did exactly as they had discussed; the mage corps created an earthquake, splitting the land right down the line between the enemy archers and cavalry. The rest of their energy was spent maintaining the crack – they even had the luck of a few enemy troops falling into it – while the field soldiers rained arrows down on the enemy infantry and archers, and the cavalry raced across the field to engage. Taia and Whitestar held their own – barely – against the bevy of enemy mages; they weren't able to take any of them out, but they were able to hold their attention well enough to keep them from causing any damage to the rest of the fight. The battle couldn't have gone better – for their side. It couldn't have gone worse for the enemy – their entire line of infantry and archers had been decimated. Their cavalry – the hardest troop to fight – was left untouched, but that would be easier to deal with than the entire army at once.

For their side, there were relatively few casualties – but notable was one of the generals who served as second-in-command to Jareth. There were three such positions – and they were now down to two. At that night's meeting, Taia found herself promoted as the third, which she found to be surprising; she didn't find her performance to be warranting a promotion, but here she was, and she wasn't going to turn it down, either. If Jareth thought her up to the task, well, she would just do the best she could to deserve his confidence. Whitestar remarked on the change in Taia's attitude; when they had first signed on, the promotions led to quite a bit of hand-wringing and wondering whether or not she could actually do the job. Now, Taia simply accepted the promotion and did her best to deserve it. Taia agreed; her experience had led to an entirely different outlook on her position.

What that meant for her in practical terms – well, she was going to be even busier. She would have meetings after the strategy meetings with just herself, Jareth, and the other two generals in question – Miljek and Tren – to discuss the future, the needs and the direction of the troupe as a whole; she would take part in the strategy discussions that took place between their own and the other armies on their side in campaigns. She could see that those breaks in between campaigns – even just the travel time to one from the previous – were going to be quite the respite.

The following day, cavalry being a more difficult field army to fight than infantry or archers – particularly when you can fight infantry and archers with cavalry without their being able to bring in their own – Taia and Whitestar fought with the sword, rather than their mage gifts. The regular mage corps kept the enemy mages at bay, and even managed to take a few out. The field troops had a more difficult day against the enemy cavalry, but in the end they won the day – and finished off the enemy mages with steel. Taia escaped with several fairly deep gashes that may well have been fatal but for Whitestar's immediate healing through the lifebond, and the horses they rode that day – Mina and Ishim – would need to be let to heal for the entirety of their march to the next campaign – this time on the Rethwellan border with Hardorn. Same enemy, different battlefield – and Taia wasn't sure they would survive another. But – they had a good moon march to figure out a way to do it.

They decided to use the same strategy with this battle as the previous one – and it was equally successful. Taia was happier because it didn't use magecraft directly against unGifted soldiers – it only used magic to create a barrier. They also finished this campaign successfully – but worn. They had lost a lot of their number. The membership that had had been promoted to leadership positions hadn't the time to adjust. They were riddled with nagging injuries not serious enough to keep them off the field, but not getting any better for the lack of rest, either. Even the horses were showing the wear – Ishim had a limp Taia was worried might be permanent, Mina had a stiffness to her left hindquarter from an arrow injury that wouldn't quite heal; she was anxious to end the season and get the yearlings – now adults – trained to ride next season. The next batch of foals would have been born by now; she hadn't even been home to see what they looked like, what sex they were, if they were even healthy. The only horse in their bunch that wasn't showing signs of exhaustion was Jessup, who was happy as ever. Taia loved that horse.

They finished the season limping, hurting, and missing many of the faces that had become family; but they finished the season. They started the long march home, with nightly healing sessions and relatively late departures every morning and arrived at their stronghold exhausted, just as the first snow started to fall. Taia was delighted to find that one of her mares had – again – had twins, so she had four foals instead of three – two of each sex, one of which would go to Brandi when it was old enough to wean. Brandi would get her pick of the foals, so Taia couldn't be certain whether she would end up with two mares and a stallion or two stallions and a mare – but it didn't matter, it was still one more horse than she had planned on having. The yearlings – now grown – were ready to be trained. So that was their offseason; more tanning, more boot- and cloak-making, more weapons-making and repairing, more armor making – but this year, Taia got to train five new horses.

Taia couldn't believe how excited she was to train these horses. First, they were the first foals of her very own herd – she wasn't training someone else's horses. She was training horses for her herd – she got to train them with an eye to exactly what she needed from them, not someone else's specifications. But mostly – she got to train horses. She got to be a Shin'a'in. No running around with Outlanders commanding a battlefield, no risking her skin for some Outlander's border dispute – or even a dispute that actually had moral value. Just her and the horses, doing what her people did, and nothing more. And nothing less.

She began by training them, one by one, to accept a bridle. She approached the colt, speaking calmly in Shin'a'in about what was going to happen, what she needed from him, what she would provide him in return. She approached the colt first with the empty hand, scratching him behind the ears, until the colt was calm. She then slipped the bridle over the colt's head, still scratching, still talking – and the colt barely noticed. She pulled the bridle in place until it fit properly and attached a lead rope. She started to walk, still scratching, until the colt was used to following her, and then she gradually increased her distance until it was the rope she was leading the horse with, and not the hand she was scratching him with. She took several turns around the circle leading the horse until the horse was comfortable and then stopped. She gave the horse several sugar cubes and praised him effusively.

She then led the horse to the fence, where she had the riding blanket waiting. She put the blanket over the horse's back – and he bucked it off. She repeated this until the horse accepted the blanket, and then led him around the circle until the horse had forgotten the blanket was there, and then repeated the procedure with the saddle. Once the horse was willing to tolerate the blanket and saddle, she led him back to the fence, where she stood on the bottom rung and leaned over his back. She placed more and more of her weight on him, letting up, leaning over, letting up – until the horse was relaxed. She then threw a leg over the horse – and hung on.

The horse bucked and writhed, galloping around the ring, trying every trick in his book to throw Taia off – but she hung on. She knew that eventually the horse would tire and tolerate her weight. She hadn't trained a horse from scratch in a long time – but it wasn't her first one. And sure enough, the horse calmed. She praised him again, scratching his withers, and urged him to walk. He did. She urged him to trot, then canter, then gallop – there was nothing quite like riding a horse at a gallop for the first time, and Taia reveled in it. When the horse was following her riding commands reliably, she dismounted. She mounted again, and this time was met with only a slight rebellion – and she dismounted and mounted until the horse tolerated her weight without complaint. That would do for the first day – the horse could be made ready to ride in one day, but to be battle-ready would take all season. She trained each horse like this, one each day, before she moved on to training them to fight.

It made for a very refreshing offseason, which she knew she desperately needed. She knew the whole troupe needed it. They had a lot of new recruits to work with, too, get them ready to fight together as an army, rather than a band of individual fighters. She had no idea how much they were going to need that rest, though, and wouldn't – until next season. This next season was going to make the one they just finished look like nothing more than a horse training session.

The next season was full of battles against this Ancar character. Between battles on the Karse border and battles on the Rethwellan one – the Fire Eagles never stopped moving. Either they were marching or they were fighting. Poor Jys didn't make it through this season – he was killed when a pike went through his belly armor. Myk was lucky to survive, but with a permanent hamstring injury that left him unavailable to ride, at least into battle; he might be able to handle a walk around the field now and again, maybe even an easy hunt. Since Taia had not finished training the yearlings for battle, they were forced to use two of the mares as battle horses, so Taia rode Ishim and Lys while Whitestar rode Mina and Iena, a white mare, one that had birthed one of the yearlings. The fact that Iena was white was somewhat of a problem, but she wore enough armor that it didn't stand out much. Taia thought that if Ishim survived this season, she would make sure to use him to breed with at least Mina – he was too good a horse to not pass on his bloodline. Myk had fathered half of the yearlings, so Ishim could be bred with some of them…..

"LOOK OUT!" Her musings were interrupted mid-march with the shout notifying her of incoming arrows from a surprise – bandit attack?! With all the large-scale battles going on, with full armies marching regularly, bandits were attacking them? No time to speculate on their level of intelligence, Taia had to block the arrows quickly – since they were marching from one campaign to the next, they weren't wearing their armor, so they and the horses were all vulnerable. One of the arrows very nearly missed her outstretched arm – but was swept out of the air by Sera, who dove to pluck it from her path.

 _:Thank you, dearling.:_ she sent.

 _:Welcome. Get arrows out of sky. Sera, Ryki, Syen hunt human. Tyke hunt dinner:_ Sera sent back. Poor Tyke. Being the smallest of the bunch, he was so frequently left on dinner patrol – Taia and Whitestar made extra effort to make sure he knew how important that was and how all six of them depended on his hunting prowess. He often bemoaned the fact that he couldn't participate much in battle, but their reassurances were true – they didn't have time to hunt and fight, or even to hunt and march. During a march the other three birds helped hunt, but then the meat went to feed more than just their little group.

 _:Be careful.:_ she sent to both of them, and received a feeling of indignation in response. She laughed a little – they were raptors, after all, and believed themselves to be omnipotent.

She sliced some of the arrows out of the sky with her sword, and then thought – this is ridiculous. She focused for a second and used her Fetching Gift to send all the arrows back in the direction from which they had come – and several of them hit their marks. The bandits who had not been hit were quickly taken down by more arrows sent by herself, Whitestar and the rest of the troupe, who were quite nonplussed at the fact that they had been forced to fight a mini-battle while marching from one real one to another. Taia herself had been half-asleep in her horse-breading musings.

When it was all over, there were a few minor arrow wounds but nothing major. The Healers cleaned it up quickly and they were back on their way. They were even plus a few horses – nags, all of them, but they would serve as packhorses for troupe members who didn't have one or they could be hitched to a wagon, freeing up a few of those beasts that might be a decent fighting mount. There was even one dirty little donkey they cleaned up and gave to a local farmer who was in desperate need of a beast to help him with his fields, since his horses and oxen had all been taken by the soldiers. The donkey wasn't much, but might help him harvest enough to survive the winter – if winter ever arrived with anyone to see it.

They marched on, a few candlemarks behind, but none the worse for it. It would mean setting up camp a bit later at night and leaving a bit earlier in the morning, but not much more than that. Taia and Whitestar had made a spell that would make their tent set itself up, saving them some time, and had passed it on to the other mages who spent their evenings setting up the rest of the camp's tents. Taia herself spent every evening in meetings, while Whitestar managed the horses and cooked dinner. They had also created spells that would make their tent keep itself warm, at least when they were on campaign in the winter – and soundproof. They enjoyed their privacy, since they rarely had any at all otherwise.

This was a long march, from one battle on the Karse border to another on the border with Rethwellan. Surprisingly, there were many bandit attacks – it seemed that many of the people had been so stripped of their livestock and food, they had little choice but to attempt to steal it from traveling armies. Taia and Whitestar asked their birds to hunt a little extra over the course of their march and deliver some of the larger game to the villages, trying to offset the damage done to the townspeople by the armies conscripting their horses, their oxen, and taking their animals and harvests to feed themselves, often leaving the countryside without any way to feed itself. This was the real damage of war – not the casualties of the armies, they signed up for the fighting. It was true that not all of them had as much choice as it seemed; younger sons of nobles who wouldn't inherit, or younger sons of merchants and tradesmen who couldn't take over the business, daughters who didn't wish to marry their father's choice in husband for them but didn't want to join a temple – they often had few other options for supporting themselves. But they had signed up, and real choice or not they knew what that choice entailed. The villagers, on the other hand, weren't actively fighting the battles; many of them were oldsters, youngsters, mothers with children; they didn't deserve to starve to death because the nations they lived under couldn't get along.

They arrived at their destination late one night to find that they were – again – outnumbered. Taia wasn't sure how much more of this they could take; they were not bringing in as many qualified recruits as they were losing, and although most of their casualties were injured rather than killed it didn't mean they were returning to the field any time soon. She thought they had reached the limit of their creative strategies with which to overcome the odds, but they seemed to survive the battles nonetheless.

"I think maybe we should utilize more magecraft," said Taia at that night's strategy meeting. "We can't keep losing field soldiers like this and expect to even have a mercenary troupe next season to speak of, even if we physically survive. If we utilize more magecraft, maybe divide their armies into more than just half – and even firebomb some of it….."

"Good," said Bluok. "I agree. We will divide this army into quarters, not halves, and once divided, we will firebomb the segments that the field soldiers are not attacking. That will keep them distracted from trying to rejoin their comrades and also make the next day's battle easier."

"Excellent," said Jareth. "Let it be so. As for other business, I have found no real use for the bandit nags. They are of no use as backup mounts, they are not trained to pull a wagon, and we don't need them as pack animals. I suggest we distribute them around the nearby farms in order to provide work beasts for the villagers. Objections?"

There were none. They had started to see that the towns welcomed them, rather than feared them; they had developed the reputation of helping to provide for the villagers' needs, rather than taking from them. The Fire Eagles, unlike many armies, paid for the food that they ate and the lodgings they used and usually provided their own meat – particularly since the arrival of the bondbirds. They employed their own cooks, so the small kitchens of a village inn did not have to try to cook for an entire mercenary troupe on short notice; they slept in their own tents in unoccupied fields, rather than the small inns or even as some armies did, the villagers' own homes and barns. It was only in the larger cities that had sufficient inn capacity that they slept anywhere else, and they paid for their stay. Many armies, especially the country's standing army, just took what they needed. The Fire Eagles were learning that because they had a reputation of being reasonable and helpful, many of these things were freely given – and without the resentment the villages held for the regular army.

The next day, the armies set up for the strategy as directed by the previous night's meeting. The fighting was going well; the field soldiers were holding their own and even making progress against the quarter of the enemy army designated for them. The mages were doing a nice job of firebombing the other three quarters enough to keep them from rejoining their comrades, but not wearing out the mages to the point of exhaustion – they would, in fact, be needed again the next day, and the day after that. But Taia didn't feel right. Something was off. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but the hairs on the back of her neck just wouldn't lay down. Whitestar was positively distracted; she kept looking over her shoulder, scanning the horizon, for some unidentified threat she couldn't quite see.

And then Taia realized it. Despite the fact that she knew the enemy army had many mages, none of them were attacking. They weren't even counterattacking. She needed to find out why, and quickly. She reached out with her Farsight – and used her Mage Sight, as well. She didn't want to miss whatever this was because it was shielded from Mindmagic. She scanned the enemy camps until she found the mages, and watched them. They were all standing focused on a campfire, with all their hands outstretched to the fire as if they were warming them – but then she saw, it wasn't a regular campfire. It was a mage light, but not. She'd never seen anything like it. She looked closer at the mages and saw strands of energy coming from their hands towards the fire, as if they were trying to make it bigger. She couldn't figure out what they were doing – until it happened. A giant, red, flaming serpent-like creature emerged from the fire.

The mages had summoned a demon.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter sixteen**

"ALE'SHAYA!"

Taia reverted to Whitestar's Shin'a'in name, which she normally only used when they were alone. Whitestar saw the demon through Taia's eyes, but not before it started to attack, setting fire to large swaths of the field. Taia sent a quick mindspeech report to Bluok, then rose in her saddle and gathered her energy. She worried for a moment that if she failed, then the entire alliance of armies would fall to this demon – and then realized she had no choice, they would fall if she didn't try, as well. She and Whitestar linked their powers and prepared to do battle like they had never done before. Neither had ever even seen a demon; they had no real idea how to defeat one. But they were the only mages present with the power to even try.

They sent a lightning bolt at it, first. This got its attention, but did no actual damage – just made it mad, if it was even possible to anger a demon. Taia spun shields around herself and Whitestar – and then spun them around the demon, as well. If she couldn't defeat it, maybe she could contain it.

 _:Take out the enemy mages. Even if we are all of us incapacitated tomorrow from exhaustion, we have no choice. Take them out.:_ she sent to the other mages.

She felt them agree and saw that they were sending attacks at the enemy mages, each of their own mages taking on an enemy of similar ability as their personal responsibility. They must succeed. Neither Taia or Whitestar could spare any energy to help against the mages – they had their hands full with the demon, and then some.

The demon continued to spew fire across the field, but since it was distracted by Taia and Whitestar's attack the fire was not directed at anything in particular. The field soldiers were able to avoid it for the most part, and despite many of them suffering from severe burns they fought on. Healers rushed the field to rescue those they could rescue, the bondbirds harassed whoever they could harass – even Tyke took part at this point; they needed all the "hands" they could get. Taia spun shields tighter and tighter around the demon, hoping to confine its attacks so that it couldn't do any real damage. Whitestar sent fireballs and lightning bolts at the thing as quickly as she could. When Taia couldn't spin her shields any tighter – she had an idea. While Whitestar attacked directly with overt mage weapons, Taia began to covertly drain the energy from the demon. It was fed with energy; Taia treated it as a node, and began draining the energy out of it and feeding it back into herself, into Whitestar, even into the rest of the mages in her troupe. At the same time, she used her Fetching to send arrows and knives into its hide – she wasn't sure if it was solid or not, but it was worth a try – and discovered that it could, in fact, be injured with physical weapons. So she kept sending them. All the arrows in her quiver, then all the arrows in Whitestar's. Then all their knives, throwing and otherwise, and finally the shortswords and even the full swords.

She held the swords aloft, using her Fetching Gift to make them do a Shin'a'in sword dance without her – they sliced the demon's hide to shreds, but it fought on. She fought on as well, and Whitestar too – and even the bondbirds began to attack the demon instead of the soldiers on the field. The demon was losing its power, due to their attacks as well as the power drain and in no small part due to the fact that the other mages had been successful in taking out about half of the enemy mages. The weaker ones, to be sure, but everything helped, and now the entire rest of the mage corps could focus on the ones that were left. Taia was on her knees, nearly wiped out from her concentration – shields, drain, physical attack – Whitestar added her energy to the shields in addition to her Mage attacks, but she was sending some very powerful bolts at the demon and was near her end as well.

The battle seemed to go on for days, but in reality it was a few candlemarks – and the enemy mages were all killed. This left the demon without any influx of power – only draining power, and injured hide. Taia had started to use the demon's own power as she drained it to fuel her own shields – it was either that or drop them, she no longer had the strength to maintain them. After what seemed like a lifetime – the demon fell. The battle was won. Taia and Whitestar – and the entire mage corps – collapsed in exhaustion. The Healers carted them off to be watched over until they woke, with willowbark tea by their bedsides for the reaction headaches they were bound to have. The Healer's tents were full – mostly of burn victims from the demon, but also plenty of the standard slash and crush wounds. The horses were in almost the same bad shape as their riders; since Taia and Whitestar were fighting as mages in this battle, theirs were unharmed, but the troupe suffered heavy cavalry casualties alongside the human ones.

The following day, the mage crew dusted themselves off and went back to work and so did Taia and Whitestar, only with the field soldiers – neither of them had a bit of mage energy left, and truth be told they were pretty rough on their feet to be fighting with the sword either. But there wasn't much choice; the war continued, and if they didn't show up to fight they'd be slaughtered in their sleep. Taia was again glad that she had placed a spell on all of their weapons – even each individual arrow – to return to her tent every night; if she hadn't, they wouldn't have any weapons to fight with, since they had used every last one of them on that blasted demon the night before. The thing's carcass still littered the field – apparently the enemy hadn't had the troop strength to clean it up. Maybe they didn't know what to do with it, either. But either way, the Fire Eagles and their allies made some solid progress that day.

When Taia and Whitestar crawled back to their tents that night neither of them had the energy to so much as breathe – but the horses still needed tending. The weapons still needed cleaning and sharpening, the armor still needed repairing, and they needed to eat. And Taia was needed at the strategy tent, despite the fact that she could barely keep her eyes open – much less contribute anything of value.

When she arrived, the first thing she noticed was the fact that their leader wasn't there.

"Where is Jareth?" she asked, worried.

"Jareth was wounded by that…..that thing," said Milna. "The Healers…..don't think he'll make it."

"WHAT?!" Taia was shocked. Much more shocked than she thought she would be. She respected Jareth; she liked him. She realized he had provided somewhat of a father figure to her throughout the years; she had never really known hers, and she was young and naïve when she arrived to the Fire Eagles. Losing Jareth would be harder on her than simply losing the commander of her army – it would be losing a family member.

"He has severe burns to much of his body," said Jexon. "When that demon showed – good ol' Jareth, he didn't hesitate. He went right at it. Brave sonofabitch, he is."

Taia was silent for a moment. She thought about sending word to Whitestar – if there was a Healer in the camp who could save Jareth, it would be Whitestar; but she also knew that her lifebonded would drain herself to death trying. If he would survive, he would survive the night – and Whitestar could try tomorrow after having time to recover her strength. She knew from her own empty reserves that Whitestar had none, either.

"Well. May the Goddess save him, then, and if She will not, let Her guard him from pain," she said.

"Well said,"said Miljek. "Well said. Now, on to business. Well done, all of you. I didn't think that was going to be so successful even before that – thing – but we sure rose to the challenge. I don't believe there is anything further to discuss – the rest of this war will be business as usual, so I don't see any purpose in keeping us from our beds."

They couldn't agree fast enough. They were all devastated by Jareth's injury – even if he recovered, he would never be the same. Burn injuries were the worst kind – so much scarring, and the new tissues never fully recovered their original elasticity. And the recovery was as painful as it could get, too; as much as Taia wanted Jareth to recover, she almost hoped he wouldn't just so he wouldn't have to endure that pain. But it wasn't in her hands, anyway – it was in the hands of the Healers, and the Gods.

In the morning, Whitestar did head over to Healer's tent rather than the battlefield – and there was nothing that she could do. She expended all of her energy in the effort, but it was not to be. Jareth was on his path to the Havens by nightfall, and there wasn't a dry eye in the entire camp. At the conclusion of the war, he was burned on a pyre with the entire troupe attending as send-off. The season was over – and it was not without its victims. The Fire Eagles were reduced in number by a full third, but not only that they had lost their much-beloved leader. Their march home to their stronghold was a slow one, and not only due to their many injuries.

And upon their arrival, a meeting was held to name Jareth's successor. In a unanimous vote, all senior leadership agreed to appoint none other than Taia herself.

"What are they thinking?!" said Taia. "How can they possibly think I'm qualified to be the Captain of this army?! Why not Jexon, or Miljek, or even Milna – they all have more experience than I do, why not make one of them Captain? I am not qualified for this!"

"Apparently, they believe that you are," said Whitestar. She was being strangely reasonable about this, Taia thought. "You have demonstrated the ability to command your own troops well. You have demonstrated the ability to consider and take responsibility for how your actions will affect the entire troupe, and not just yourself or even your division. Your strategies, while not always successful, have led us to victory when there would have otherwise been defeat. You have earned the respect of all the other commanders. You are qualified."

"I'm terrified!" blurted Taia. "What if I get us all killed? What if I can't get us enough contracts to be able to eat? What if – "

"If you weren't terrified, you wouldn't be right for the job," said Whitestar. Painfully reasonable. "And besides, it's not like you're all alone. You will still have your commanders, it's not like they will refuse to give you advice. And you do have experience – just on a smaller scale."

"True," said Taia. "But the final decisions will be up to me. And if they're wrong….."

"If you are wrong, then you will own your mistakes and learn from them," said Whitestar. "I imagine Jareth made mistakes as well. I imagine some of them were even while we were under his command. No one is perfect. But you are qualified for this role, and I believe you will do a fine job."

Taia was quiet for a moment. She didn't stop pacing, however. She gradually slowed down, and then she stopped.

"Do you really think I can do it?" she asked. "Do you really think I even _should_?"

"Of course you can," said Whitestar. "As for whether or not you should, well, I don't see any reason you should not."

"I think I will promote Milna in my place," said Taia.

"I agree, that would be appropriate," said Whitestar.

And so it was decided. At the next meeting, Taia promoted Milna from General to second-in-command, and promoted a young man named Ilken to her position of General. A promising young woman named Sikeh was promoted to Lieutenant in Ilken's place. She felt guilty again that she was promoted over her own ex-lieutenant until Milna confided that she had specifically requested not to be promoted from General for two seasons as she was recently married and wanted to focus on her new husband; this relieved Taia's guilt. Tren and Miljek had both volunteered her as a replacement for Jareth, seeing her as more suited for the role than themselves. Which Taia found odd, since she thought either of them more qualified, but since Whitestar continued to reassure her that she was, in fact, capable – and since, through the lifebond it would really be both of them acting as Captain, and not just one – she took the position. She hoped she would not regret it.

They spent their offseason much the same as every other offseason – but Taia was frequently called upon to entertain requests for their services and decide which jobs to take. Given their drastically reduced number, she chose to not accept any winter jobs – fighting in winter was difficult enough, but to do so when they were only at two-thirds strength, and those battle weary, would not be in their best interests. They had enough in the coffers to eat through the winter, and no doubt there would be plenty of campaigns – mostly against Ancar – in the spring. Taia hoped that not only would they set a record winter for enlistment but that she could invent some truly amazing strategies. She wasn't sure how they would survive another season like the last, with or without record enlistment.

She spent a great deal of time training the first crop of foals for battle; she would likely need to use the colts as their actual battle mounts for at least part of the season if not all of it. She planned on taking Ishim back out next season, but she had mated many of the mares and therefore they were unavailable. Once again despite having a relative plentitude of horseflesh, she was tight on the actual available mounts. Myk was out of commission, so he provided stud service to all the mares that Ishim didn't. She decided to use the one colt of the first round of foals, a deep red-brown muscular horse she named Kyesh. She worked extra hard on his training; she really wanted him to survive. She would take Ishim and Kyesh; Whitestar would take Iena and a brown mare named Cayen, who happened to be Kyesh's dam. That first season as Captain was difficult, but successful; at the end, their mounts were scarred, but whole, and so were they. The troupe was – well, still at two-thirds strength, but it was growing and Taia had every reason to believe the following season would bring them back up to full.

She was working on training the second round of foals – only three of them, it was going faster than the next round of six foals would – when she saw a page running towards her.

"Captain!" he said. He was an enthusiastic lad – not yet old enough to join in the fighting, but definitely headed that way. He took any weapons-training anyone would offer him. He'd been orphaned by one war or another, and the Fire Eagles had taken him on as a page; he planned to show his gratitude – and earn his keep – by being a member for life.

"Yes, Rek?"

"Captain Kerowyn o' the Skybolts to see you, Captain. She says it's urgent," Rek said breathlessly.

"Very well, Rek. Please show her to the Officer's hut and tell her I will join her shortly," said Taia.

Rek saluted and ran off. Taia grinned at his enthusiasm – he was going to make an excellent soldier. She walked to her personal hut first and changed into something appropriate to meet another mercenary Captain, not her worn, stained riding leathers. She then walked from there to the Officer's hut, where her guest was waiting – and was surprised to see what appeared to be a Shin'a'in warsteed tethered to the fence around the building. Could it be that there was another Shin'a'in mercenary captain? And why had she never heard of them?

"Hello," she said as she entered the hut, "I apologize for keeping you waiting, I was training the next batch of foals – which, if that is your warsteed out there, you must understand. I am Taia shena Pretera'sedrin k'Treva, Captain of the Fire Eagles. How can I be of assistance?"

The blonde woman facing her smiled. "That is in fact my warsteed. Her name is Hellsbane, I received her from my Shin'a'in cousins. That is a rather long story, however. My name is Kerowyn, Captain of the Skybolts, and I have come to recruit you."

"Recruit me? For what?" asked Taia, eloquent as ever in moments of surprise.

"I am on my way north to Valdemar, to help them defeat Ancar once and for all. He threatens their border, and I was hired by Rethwellan to help defeat him in order to repay their debt to Valdemar's crown as well as to honor their alliance. I was hoping I might even the odds a bit if you and your troupe were willing to work with me and mine. Equal pay from what Faram – the king is paying the 'Bolts."

"Wait, you know the King to call him by his name?" said Taia. Why could she not stop speaking as if she were a teenager?

"Well, more his younger brother, we trained together – but yes, I know him. Will you come?" asked Kerowyn.

Taia thought about it. The previous two seasons had been spent fighting skirmishes with Ancar – and had been costly. And that hadn't even been his full force. If he succeeded in defeating Valdemar, he would likely turn his entire attention on Rethwellan – and the Fire Eagles would surely be hired in its defense, only now they would be facing Ancar's entire army plus whoever of Valdemar would fight with him – and without the help of Valdemar's army to fight against him. They would almost certainly be defeated, and be lucky to survive at all. If they took this job, they would be fighting Ancar with the best odds they were likely to ever get, albeit still bad ones, and if they won they would be done with him for good. On the other hand, they were still only at two-thirds strength, having not been able to recruit enough during the past season to replace those they had lost. If they spent this season fighting smaller battles down in, say, Seejay, they could rebuild. They could even relocate, far away from this Ancar's influence. From all she had seen – and heard – about Ancar, defeating him was a very worthy cause; but she wasn't certain that they could. Ancar, however, needed defeating; and this was likely to be the best and only shot they had at accomplishing that goal.

Besides, she was Shin'a'in. She didn't run from a fight.

"I accept," said Taia, "pending the approval of my officers. This is, as you know, a winter march into a battle we quite possibly will not survive; they deserve the chance to voice their opinions."

"Very well," said Kerowyn. "I will wait."

Persistent, this Kerowyn. Likely something she inherited from those Shin'a'in "cousins". Must be Tale'sedrin, Taia thought; no other Clan boasted blonde members.

Taia left the hut and sent Rek to fetch Jexon, Miljek and Milna. Tren had been one of the casualties of the previous season, and Taia had promoted Jexon in his place. When they arrived, she introduced them to Kerowyn and outlined the proposition to them, as well as her assessment of the pros and cons.

"Well," said Miljek, "I relish the idea of being rid of Ancar, but at the same time I don't relish the idea of a suicide mission."

"Any fight against Ancar is a potential suicide mission. This has the potential to be the last one, and with better odds than we've gotten for two seasons. I think it beats the slow trickle to destruction we've been having before," said Milna.

"Aye," said Jexon. "Lemme at th' bastid. Let's go and be done with him, not hide our tails between our legs in Seejay tryin' ta live one day longer while people who didna sign up fer fightin' die in our place."

He had a point there. The war would happen regardless – and hadn't Taia herself justified her own service as a mercenary as a net good because it prevented those less skilled from dying instead? That was all pretty sentiment if she turned and ran when the battle was bigger than she liked. She would betray everything she was if she allowed Ancar's enemies to fight and die in her place while she hid in some country south, just to survive. She decided, in that moment, that she would go – even if her troupe decided not to.

In the end, though, the "ayes" had it; they decided to accept the contract and follow the Skybolts to Valdemar for the possibility of finally, and at long last, defeating Ancar and winning the opportunity to return to stupid little border skirmishes.

"We will join you," said Taia. "When do we leave?"

"In one sennight," said Kerowyn. "We will meet you in the Combs, crossing into Valdemar. We should reach them at about the same time."

"We will be there," said Taia.

They saluted each other, and left the building.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter seventeen**

Taia had the perennial problem of which horses were available to take to this battle. Since it was a larger battle than their "usual", plus a longer, more arduous march just to get there, she wanted to take more than their standard two mounts each – plus Jessup, of course. She had planned on breeding Kyesh's yearmates this season for their first foals; she hadn't wanted to ride them to battle. However, she didn't have any other options; her other mares were either pregnant or with dependent foals. She had Ishim, and Kyesh, of course, and Zere – one of the fillies from the first round, Kyesh's yearmate, who was not bred this year because she had a respiratory infection during mating season. Whitestar had Iena and Cayen, and would take Tika with her as the third. It wasn't ideal – Tika was the dam of one of the offspring of the second round of breeding, so her foal was weaned but not yet trained – but it would work.

They packed quickly – a sennight wasn't a long time to prepare for a war of this magnitude. They had to pack food rations – which weren't prepared yet, since they hadn't planned on a winter march. They had to pack their warmest clothing, and plenty of it. They needed all their weaponry, and supplies to make more. They needed bedrolls, blankets, all the normal things for travel. They were ready just in time, though, and set out on their long journey to the front. They took as many horses as they thought they would need – and for many of the troupe, that was all the horses they had. The cavalry units of the Fire Eagles generally had two mounts per soldier, but many of the foot soldiers invested part of their pay in a mount – often one of the horses left behind by a defeated enemy that they took as their share of permitted loot, but a mount nonetheless. Those who did not often rode in the wagons that carried the camp supplies – the cooks, the pages, the officer's tent. Taia wasn't sure how well these wagons would fare crossing the Combs – in winter – but she didn't think they'd be able to do without them. She decided that most of their travel would be by road, and when they got to the Combs, if the crossing was too difficult for the wagons – she would find a way to magic them across.

"What happens to the horses if we don't make it back?" asked Whitestar. "Who will care for them, and see that they don't just become some really fine breeding stock for some other merc troupe?"

"That is an excellent question," said Taia. "I need to find some way to get a message to Brandi, so that if she does not hear from us by, say, the end of the fighting season she should come to the camp and fetch them."

"Do you think Tyke could fly to Wolf Clan and deliver the message and catch up to us?" asked Whitestar.

"Ask him," said Taia. "It's the best idea we have so far."

 _:Tyke:_ Whitestar mindspoke her bondbird. _:Have problem. Need to send message to Brandi:_ Whitestar send along a mental image of Brandi as well as an image of where Brandi was located. _:Tyke fly to Brandi, deliver message, catch up? Must fly very fast.:_

Whitestar got the impression that Tyke was thinking. He cocked his head and fluttered his wings.

 _:Troupe march while Tyke fly?:_ Whitestar nodded. _:Tyke fly. Tyke fly fast. Write message, Tyke leave now.:_

And so they did. Tyke left for the Plains with a note carried in a pouch on his back in a special harness Taia had made. Taia had made these harnesses for all the bondbirds, in the event that they were needed to carry messages or small supplies from one place to another – bandages to the battlefront, for example, messages from one troupe division to the other – it was quite effective, although Tyke was the most frequent messenger due to his speed as well as his smaller size making him less effective in a fight. In this case, Tyke would be flying quite a long distance alone to find Brandi, then even farther to catch up to Whitestar; Taia hoped he could handle it. She wrote a message telling Brandi about the war and that if she didn't hear from them in one way or another, or if she heard specifically of their deaths – she was to come to the camp stronghold and claim Taia's herd as her own. She left instructions with the camp stablehands to that effect as well.

They set off exactly one sennight from Kerowyn's arrival to the camp, just before dawn. The Goddess seemed to have blessed their journey by sending fair weather; there was only a small amount of snow, and Taia and Whitestar themselves rode at the head of the troupe in order to use their Shin'a'in horses to break through it. The other mounts were capable of doing so – but it would have exhausted them much more quickly. The Shin'a'in horses, however, would tolerate it for much longer without any negative effect. They stayed in inns when the towns were large enough to house them and camped in fields when they weren't. They ate trail rations and whatever Sera, Syen and Ryki hunted for them over the course of the day – which usually meant that Taia and Whitestar got fresh meat and usually the higher-level officers, while the regular troupes got soup made from the dried meat they had managed to bring with them with bits of fresh venison in it. Syen managed to bring down a deer or two every day, and Sera or Ryki even occasionally got one as well although wild hogs were more common; but with an entire troupe to feed that meat didn't go far. Still, it was more than they would have had without the birds' help, so the troupe was grateful.

They traveled for half a moon before they arrived at the Combs, where Tyke caught up with them with a message of well wishes and agreement from Brandi and Jacqui. Kerowyn and her troupe were there waiting for her, although Taia was relieved to learn that she had only arrived a few candlemarks earlier. They made camp together that night, and Kerowyn, Taia and Whitestar stayed up late by the fire telling mercenary stories like teenage girls at a party. They were a little groggy the next morning when they woke up to leave, but felt it well worth it since they now knew each other well enough to work together effectively. Taia was a little in awe of Kerowyn – she had only been a Captain for one year, Kerowyn had been doing this for much longer. They got along well, though, and Taia thought they could discuss strategy plans quite effectively.

At the moment, though, they had the problem of trying to get the wagons through the Combs – it wasn't going to happen. The weather on the plains was calm, but through the mountans, not as much. And the path was much narrower. There was no way the wagon wheels would fit without being ruined, and no way the mules pulling them would actually do so. Mules were strong animals, sure-footed and smart – sometimes too smart. They wouldn't go anywhere they didn't want to go, and no amount of whip would make them. But the troupe needed the supplies they carried, and if the foot soldiers without mounts had to walk; by the time they arrived, they'd either miss the war entirely or be too exhausted to fight. Either way the result was the same, and they'd be without their foot soldiers. So – she came up with a solution. She would cross the Combs along with the rest of the mounted troops, and then Gate the wagons across.

Upon crossing the border, however, that proved to be a more difficult task than she had imagined. When she crossed the border into Valdemar, she had the strangest sensation that she was being watched. Constantly. Not by anything malicious, but it was unnerving, nonetheless. She kept looking over her shoulder, trying to find the source – but there was nothing there. When she began to set up the Gate, the sensation almost shocked her into turning around and running right back to the stronghold, promises and contracts be damned to the nine hells, but she was too stubborn for that. She continued to set the Gate.

Gates could only be set using the personal energy of the caster – which was why they had to be set by an Adept mage. They also had to be set by a mage who had personally seen both ends of the terminus, which was why Taia couldn't simply have Gated the entire army across the Combs. However, since she and Whitestar were lifebonded, Whitestar could share her personal energy with Taia – or vice versa – in the Gate setting, which split the load and made it possible for them to Gate twice as far as they would have been able to do as individuals. This Gate would have been strenuous, but not so much as to incapacitate either of them as individuals; split between the two of them, they barely noticed the drop in their energy levels. Before long, the wagons were across the Gate, having spurred the recalcitrant mules across the distance. They were back underway. There was still, however, the business of those eyes. They were going to drive Taia – and Whitestar – mad.

So after awhile of riding towards the front lines, with all the anxiety involved in riding towards their possible demise and at the very least towards a very difficult war, Taia had had enough. She was losing sleep, trying to figure out what was watching her. She tried looking for it with Farsight, then with Magesight. When she tried that, it only got worse; it seemed that when she was using Mind Magic, it was just kind of a buzz in the back of her head. But if she used anything involving true magic, it was as if an entire room full of eyes was focused right on her. It felt alarmingly similar to when she was back in the Clan and she could hear every passing thought of her Clanmates.

Taia decided enough was enough, and she was going to find out what this thing was. She dropped her shields and looked for this thing – and was confronted with _vrondii_. That was it? Just _vrondii_? Those couldn't hurt her. So she let the _vrondii_ look at her, look at her intentions to help Valdemar – and they left her alone. She quickly passed what she had learned to Whitestar, then the rest of her mages. It was too late for the Skybolt mages, they had already turned back – but the Fire Eagles could keep theirs. And Taia and Whitestar would not be incapacitated, either.

And it was one thing she could contribute that Kerowyn couldn't. Taia wouldn't admit to anyone else that it helped her not feel so inferior – but it did.

Taia had never seen so many white horses. Incredibly beautiful, absolutely pure white horses. With blue eyes? How was that possible? And they looked at her like they knew what she was thinking. Knew who she was. Knew she wasn't anywhere near qualified for this. It was unnerving, to say the least.

"Whitestar," she said, "have you seen those white horses? The ones with the blue eyes?"

"How have you not heard of Companions and Heralds?" laughed Whitestar.

"What?" said Taia, truly confused.

"You remember me telling you about Vanyel, right? My ancestor?" said Whitestar.

"Yes….." said Taia, not sure what this had to do with anything.

"Didn't I call him Herald-Mage Vanyel?" said Whitestar.

"Um….no, I don't think you did," said Taia, more and more confused and getting just a little annoyed.

"Sorry," said Whitestar. "Vanyel wasn't just a mage, or my ancestor. He was a Herald. That means he bonds with one of those white horses – they're called Companions – in much the same way we bond to the bondbirds, only closer. Maybe more like a lifebond. Only the Companions are more like avatars. They choose people with Gifts of one kind or another, good people, who dedicate their lives in the service of Valdemar. To a particularly suicidal degree, I might add."

"That must be why they look at me like they know who I am," said Taia.

"Unnerving, isn't it?" said Whitestar.

"Very," said Taia. "But I'm going to fix that."

Whitestar was about to ask how, but she soon had her answer.

 _:Listen, you, Companions. Spirit horses, avatars, whatever your nature – stop looking at me. I am here to do a job in defense of your people, your country, and I will do it to the best of my ability. I don't need your scrutiny or your judgment. Let me alone.:_

Taia broadsent to the entire Companion herd. Many of the Companions jerked their heads up in surprise and stared at her; several of them put their ears back and stamped their feet. Some of them looked amused. And from just a couple, Taia got the distinct impression of a snort, laughter, even respect. But all of them stopped paying attention to her in any way, and for that she was extremely grateful.

"Well, that worked," said Taia. "I hope I didn't cause some sort of diplomatic nightmare, but there was no way I was going to be able to focus on anything important with all those blue eyes looking at me. I mean, I got the _vrondii_ to leave me alone only to have those horses watch me…"

Whitestar burst out laughing. "I have a feeling the conversations they're having among themselves would be something I'd like to listen in on," she said. "I also have the feeling we'll hear of it from their Heralds!"

"Maybe, but even so," said Taia. "I'm already nervous about this campaign, I didn't need more pressure, and certainly not from a horse!"

They arrived at their designated camp and began to set up their tents. The bondbirds set about hunting for whatever meat they could find while Taia and Whitestar got their belongings organized inside their tent. Whitestar started a fire while Taia sorted all the weaponry and armor, making sure everything was accounted for and not damaged. When the horses were unloaded, they both set about giving them all a good rubdown and grooming, some warm mash to eat and blankets to keep them warm for the night. The actual battle was to begin in about a sennight, judging from where the scouts said Ancar's troops were. The next day, the troops were going to set some traps – marshy areas that looked solid, gopher holes to lame the horses. They all hated to cause injury to the horses on purpose, but they were outnumbered by quite a bit, so they needed every advantage they could get. Kerowyn had informed Taia that the Rethwellan foot soldiers would be marching north to join them, but they wouldn't arrive for some time; they were on their own with the Valdemaran regulars against Hardorn for a good while.

Taia headed off to the officer's tent, where she would meet with Kerowyn as well as the Valdemaran military leaders. She was nervous; she had met with nobles before to discuss her battle plan and her pay, and even the occasional king – but for some reason this felt different. These people didn't regularly hire mercenaries, and she knew that their most recent war was against the Tedrels – a band of "mercenaries" that fought without honor. The Valdemarans had lost many lives to that war, including their beloved King. She knew that a lot of the common folk viewed her and her troupe with suspicion and resentment; she had gone out of her way to make sure they delivered as much game as possible to the inns, were polite and friendly to a fault – and even paid more than a fair price for the services they bought. She hoped she could help convince these people that not all mercenaries were as despicable as the Tedrels, and that the Fire Eagles were there to help – not harm – Valdemar.

She entered the tent, escorted and announced by a young boy wearing all blue. Around the table sat Kerowyn – Taia had never been so happy to see a familiar face – a man in the same blue as the page, only decorated with bands and ribbons, likely the army commander; a few other men wearing various ribbons and denotations of rank, a gruff looking man wearing the same white uniform that the people who rode the Companions wore, a young woman in that same uniform with long brown hair – and oh, goodness. A blonde woman with a coronet on her head. The queen. Sele – Selenay? Was that her name?

"Welcome, Taia," said the queen. "May I call you by your first name? I apologize, I should have asked."

"Of course, your majesty," said Taia.

"I hear that between yourself and Kerowyn, your troops have just about convinced the populace that mercenaries are the most beneficent people around," said Selenay bemusedly. "Thank you for that."

"I'm sure Kerowyn agrees, we wanted to make clear that not all of us are as despi- I mean, not all of us are like the Tedrels. We are as…..offended by mercenaries that behave as they did as you are, Majesty," said Taia.

"Nonetheless, I thank you. Now. Let's get down to business. This is Elspeth, my daughter; Alberich, to her right, our weaponsmaster, who will help direct the Herald's action in this war. The Lord Martial – he commands the regular army. We understand Kerowyn has some ideas regarding strategy?"

"Yes, your majesty," began Kerowyn. "We are outnumbered, at ten to one. Those are not insurmountable odds, certainly, but not good ones. We would like to evacuate as many towns in Ancar's path as possible. During this time, we will lead his troops north, letting him think he is winning but not actually allowing him into the heart of Valdemar. The Rethwellan foot soldiers led by Prince Darenthallis, their Lord Martial, will arrive from the south, trapping Ancar's army between us. We believe this gives us the greatest chance for success."

"You want us to run?" said one of the unnamed members of the council.

"Yes. We understand it might be difficult for some of your people to accept this, but we have used it as a strategy many times with excellent results. And it won't be a true retreat – we will make it look like one for Ancar's benefit, but in reality we will be leading his army to where WE want it to go, and exhausting his troops in the process," said Kerowyn.

"It also gives more time for the towns to evacuate," said Taia. "We want as many of your townspeople to survive as possible. We hate to ask them to give up their homes with no promise that they can return, but we also don't want them slaughtered in our wake."

"Nor do we," said Selenay. "Valdemar is not the land, it is the people. We founded this country on the run; we can do it again. The townspeople will be evacuated. I agree to this plan. Let it be as you say, and let it be successful. Dismissed."

They all stood for the Queen to exit the tent. The rest of the Heralds left, then the rest of the Valdemaran officers. Kerowyn and Taia were the only two left.

"Trying to curry favor, I see, by showing so much concern for the Valdemaran citizenry?" said Kerowyn. Taia was about to object, but Kerowyn interrupted – "I kid, cousin, I only kid. I completely agree, and if you hadn't suggested evacuation I would have. I don't much like our odds. I hear your mages managed to stick around – as well as yourself, obviously – how much do you think you'll be able to affect the Hardornen troops by magical means?"

"Well, having not seen their army yet, I don't know," said Taia. "And I won't say that the mages will be at their full strength – the _vrondii_ – the watching things – are still there, they just don't watch us as intently as they had been. I don't know what they will do if we start doing large scale, offensive magics. I think they might be ahead to help make illusions of traps and provide some shielding for our own troops more than any actual offensive action."

"Very well, see to it," said Kerowyn. "From what I hear, you've contrived some rather creative strategies – anything you'd care to suggest?"

"We often use the mages to create earthquakes to divide the enemy's troops, so we don't have to fight his entire army at once. But I think that with the scope of this army in addition to the landscape, it won't make any difference – we wouldn't be able to make one big enough that their troops couldn't just go around easily. And it would pretty much wipe out the mages in one day to try. We've done this fake retreat trick before – it is a very good plan. The one thing I would add is the night attacks we do; we send a small squad of troops into the enemy camp at night to set fire to tents, take out a few of their troops while they sleep – and then get out before their army wakes and can really retaliate. I'd like to do that here."

"Good idea," said Kerowyn. "I will send you a group of my Skybolts suited for night fighting and let you integrate them with your bunch."

"Thank you," said Taia. "Not a whole contingent, mind you – maybe ten or fifteen is plenty. Too many and there is no way they can get in quietly enough to be effective."

"Understood," said Kerowyn. "Now, I don't know about you, but I have weapons and armor to prepare and traps to set, not to mention sleep and food. I will see you in the morning."

They went back to their respective tents. Whitestar had dinner prepared; Ryki had done the hunting today for their strange little family and brought them a wild pig. They ate together and discussed the battle plans. Taia told Whitestar about meeting the Queen and the Heir, as well as all the other members of the war council. They both agreed that they liked this strange land of Valdemar – even with the unnerving Companions and the _vrondii_.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter eighteen**

The next morning, Taia and the Fire Eagles set their share of the traps Kerowyn had devised. They made pits of mud and covered them with reeds to make it look like solid ground. One of the Heralds had an animal mindspeech Gift; he called all the gophers in the area to come and fill a field with holes. They made the traps so that when Ancar's troops charged through the mud, the horses – along with any foot soldiers – would quickly get mired in the mud, which would exhaust them at the very least. The gopher holes would lame the horses who fell in them – which was upsetting, to cause serious and perhaps permanent injury to a poor beast who was innocent in the whole mess, but it couldn't be helped. They needed every advantage they could get.

Taia and Kerowyn had many discussions of their experience in military life; Taia continued to be amazed by all the things Kerowyn had been through. When she learned about the experience that had started it all – Kerowyn's ride to rescue her brother's new bride after her family had been slaughtered in the dining hall –

"Wait, you're _that_ Kerowyn?" she exclaimed. Apparently it was something Kerowyn heard often, since she only laughed and nodded.

"Yes, and if you sing the song I'll slit your throat," she replied. Taia laughed.

"Ok, I won't, I promise – I want to live! Now. That Herald, the one Selenay appointed as our liaison – Eldan? Is that his name? Apparently, you know him. Care to talk about that?" Taia teased.

Kerowyn actually blushed. "I met him a long time ago," she said. "I was separated from my troupe in Karse, and while I was trying to sneak my way back across the border – well, I saw him being tortured by some Karsites preparing to kill him for spying. I rescued him. And, well…"

"You fell in love with each other, clearly. So why didn't you come back to Valdemar with him?" asked Taia.

"I had worked hard to gain my independence and my own life," said Kerowyn. "I wasn't going to give it up just for some man. Apparently, he wasn't lying when he said I would have been treated as an equal here, and not just a housewife – but I didn't believe him."

Taia thought about that. The Shin'a'in in general supported the equality of the sexes, and so did the Tale'edras – but the shaman of her own clan did not. While the Clan hadn't really followed that particular belief of his, they were moving in that direction when Taia left. She could see how, since Kerowyn's family and the surrounding culture she grew up in did support the female being nothing more than a broodmare and a decoration for her husband – well, Taia wouldn't have wanted to live like that. She could see why Kerowyn wouldn't have believed Eldan, and probably would have made the same choice for herself.

"I can understand that," said Taia. "Still, it must have been really hard for you to be away from a person you obviously love so much for so long. I don't know if I could handle being away from Whitestar like that."

Kerowyn was silent for a long time. Taia glanced over and was surprised to see a glimmer of tears in her eyes – but she said nothing. Kerowyn was a proud woman; Taia sure wasn't going to call attention to what Kerowyn was clearly trying to hide.

"It was very hard," said Kerowyn. "I don't know how I'm going to do it again, after this is all over. Maybe I will stay, after all."

"I think you should," said Taia. "It isn't every day you meet someone you love like that, who loves you back. Plus, you can be more than just his trophy here. I'm sure you can find something to do here to build a life separate from him. It's at least worth looking into, don't you think?"

"Well," said Kerowyn, "It sure doesn't hurt to check into it. But that's for after the war. First – we have to survive."

"Which is by no means a certainty," said Taia. "And speaking of survival, I need to get back to making more arrows. I'll see you later."

Kerowyn laughed. "Me too, I suppose. Good luck."

Taia went back to her tent. She checked on her horses and Whitestar's to be sure they were recovering well from the stress of the march and also to see to their feed and comfort. They all seemed happy, warm and well-kept; good-natured Jessup was sound asleep. He was unflappable, that horse; she really wished she hadn't gelded him. At the very least she could have bred him to some of the camp mares and ended up with some really good mercenary mounts. She was going to have to look into some horses to use for outcrossings with her own tiny herd to avoid inbreeding; after the war was over, if they survived. She liked this Ashkevron line. She might even be able to breed a sort of warsteed, if she used some horses out of that line. She thought maybe she and Whitestar should take a detour up to their holdings and see if she could purchase a few of their horses for breeding purposes, or at least buy some stud service.

She went back to the tent, where Whitestar was working on tanning and preparing some hides. They had scraped all the hides of everything the birds had caught during the march here, but obviously hadn't had time to tan them. She had a few that were ready, though, and was cutting them into strips to wrap around sword and knife handles. She used the deerhides to make into tunics to wear under their armor, rabbit furs to line their boots and hats. She was able to make some into fingerless gloves as well – they needed to be able to use their hands freely, obviously, but the gloves would keep them warm. There wasn't any snow on the ground anymore but it was still fairly cold. They used some of the hides on the horses, too – both to keep their joints warm as well as additional barriers to protect them from injury. They used wolf pelts under the saddles for both of those purposes as well as to make them look more fierce. Every little bit helps.

Taia sat down and got to work making more arrows. She made as many arrows as she could – they each would need two quivers instead of one. She made more knives with the steel she had purchased along the way; Whitestar used some squirrel hides to make a carrying wrap that went around the horses' neck, just in front of the saddle. The quivers would be affixed behind the saddle, one on each side. Taia had never been so heavily armed. They would each have two quivers full of arrows, the two swords at their backs, the fighting knives in their boots – four instead of two – the short swords at their thighs and the throwing knives in their gauntlets; now they would each have six more knives for either throwing or fighting in the new strap at the horses' neck. They would have had more, but they ran out of time for Taia to make them. The first day of battle had arrived.

It was a foggy day. The Skybolts and the Fire Eagles stood together on the north end of the field, just past the gopher-hole filled ground they were planning to lead Ancar's troops through. To their west were the muddy pits. They couldn't see the enemy, but the scouts kept coming in and keeping them notified of their location. Ancar's troops were marching towards them. They stood there in anticipation, hoping they were wrong about how badly outnumbered they were but knowing they weren't. Taia and Kerowyn were both glad that the Valdemaran regulars were not out with them today – they would panic at the sight of the army they were about to face. Many of their fighters were inexperienced – trained, but without battle experience. Theirs was a peaceful nation. The mercenaries, however, weren't. And they weren't going to get disheartened by the sight of an army ten times their size – and not only because they were experienced, but also because it wasn't their land to lose. Which was also why they were also the ones giving Ancar the impression that he was going to win; that would be a tough pill for the Valdemaran soldier to swallow.

They waited for what seemed like days, but it was only a few candlemarks. The mercenaries had orders to begin firing their arrows the minute they saw the enemy line appear within range, even if it was just shadows. And when the enemy line finally appeared – the fog cleared, just for a second – and Taia saw exactly how outnumbered they were. She groaned inwardly; she couldn't see how they had any hope of success. But she pulled out her arrows two at a time and got off three volleys before the planned turn-and-run. She wasn't Kal'enedral, L'eshyae or otherwise – but she was trained by them, at least in part, and she was good. She hit all six targets. Like the Kal'enedral, she also rarely missed. They retreated to the next hill, and Ancar followed into the muck and the gopher holes – but kept coming. They shot off another volley of arrows – again, Taia hit all six of her marks – and that's when they saw the mage.

Taia began to gather her power, ready to send a lightning bolt and do mage battle while the rest followed the plan and retreated, when she saw an arrow appear in the mage's chest. She looked at Kerowyn – the arrow had come from her bow. Kerowyn just shrugged, gave an odd smile and turned for the planned "retreat". They continued this pattern all day – fire, retreat, fire, retreat – until nightfall, when they sent the night specialists to attack and harass Ancar's troops. The day had gone well, and despite being outnumbered more than ten to one they were encouraged that it was going as planned. So far.

The second day was not quite so promising. This time, the Valdemaran regulars joined them. They continued with the ruse of leading Ancar's troops north, right along their own border. They volleyed, retreated, volleyed, retreated – always staying out of Ancar's own arrow range. They switched horses twice so that theirs would be fresh, while Ancar's would be tired. At sunset they made their stand – on a hillside too rocky for Ancar's troops to charge, and they would be coming uphill. This should have been quite effective; there was no way Ancar's troops, after marching all day through the mud and the muck and then uphill on tired horses would have the strength to put up much of a fight.

But they kept sending wave after wave of soldiers. The first wave was defeated fairly easily, the second wave as well – but then came a third. And a fourth. And a fifth. After eight waves even Taia was having a hard time swinging her swords, and the rest of the army was certainly showing its exhaustion; they couldn't keep this up. How could Ancar's? Then she remembered the mage. They were mage controlled. Regular troops would never be able to keep up this pace – hers couldn't, and they were well-trained and conditioned. Ancar's troops were made up of conscripts and farmers – there was no way that left to their own devices, they would fight on like this. They were trampling over their own dead with hardly a glance, and still they came.

These troops had to be mage-controlled. The waves kept coming, and the Fire Eagles, the Skybolts, and the Valdemaran regulars were taking heavy casualties – thankfully, more wounded than killed. The Healers were making short work of making sure they stayed alive, but they couldn't keep this up. Taia used her Farsight to try and find the mages doing the controlling – but they were far away, and getting their power from blood magic. With all the blood and fighting going on, there was no end to that power; with it being so far away, she couldn't even find them easily, much less defeat them from this distance. Kerowyn called for a quick meeting of the officers; it was decided that the foot soldiers would come and fight, followed by the Valdemaran cavalry while the Skybolts and Fire Eagles served as rearguard for a real retreat – but Ancar followed them.

They fought through the night, fight and retreat, fight and retreat. They tried to retreat only north, stay on the path they'd planned originally even if the battle wasn't going exactly as planned, but they were pushed west into Valdemar as well. They kept this up for several days, but it could not go on indefinitely – eventually they would have to make a stand. But they had already seen how that would go; they would be defeated. Kerowyn had said her friend Daren would be coming from the south with foot soldiers ,but when? Would they live that long? Had he been discovered and defeated already? They had no way of knowing. They tried an ambush, once – but Ancar must have seen it coming and flanked their army. They would have been destroyed if Kerowyn hadn't seen and directed their escape down the river. She said that after getting stuck in Karse and separated from her troupe, she never planned an attack without an escape route again. They were all lucky for that, and Taia made a note to follow her example in the future – if she even had one.

At this point, there was not much hope, or even much of a plan. They resorted to guerrilla warfare, playing tricks on Ancar's army, skirmishing with its edges. They were hoping for a miracle, for a brilliant strategy idea, for Daren's troops to arrive. Taia was exhausted, her troops were exhausted, her horses – all three of them – were exhausted and nursing various injuries. Whitestar was looking pale – between the fighting and the Healing, she didn't have a lot left, and it was only a matter of time before one of them missed a sword parry, a knife thrust, and both went down due to the nature of the lifebond.

Kerowyn let them in on her realization one day – they had thought they were leading Ancar north, to let him exhaust himself until Daren arrived. But they weren't even sure Daren was still coming, and they were the ones exhausted – and they weren't leading Ancar. Ancar was herding them. Ancar's foot soldiers had slipped around west of them and his cavalry was east, with his main army coming up from the south – they were being sandwiched, and soon would have nowhere left to go. They were outnumbered 10:1, and their victory was not only unsure but getting more unlikely by the moment.

That night the mercenary troupes had a meeting. This wasn't their war, after all; it wasn't their land, it wasn't their people. They didn't have to stay and die here. They could leave and go back home and let the Valdemarans fend for themselves; they would certainly be defeated, but either way that was likely, why should they die too? It was the logical answer. They were fairly sure the Guild would let them out of their contract – after all, it was a hopeless situation and the Guild law allowed them to renege on a contract in such a situation. But then they'd be left with the same situation that made them decide to take the contract in the first place – Ancar would defeat Valdemar. They'd be fighting him forever, and eventually die fighting him anyway. Unless they moved their stronghold south all the way to Seejay – but that was not an appealing option.

Besides, they had all heard what Ancar had done to Talia, the Queen's Own Herald, how he had abducted and tortured her in the attempt to gain Valdemar's surrender. They had seen how he had taken plain farmers, every male in his path old enough to swing a sword, and forced him into battle without caring whether he lived or died. They had seen how he used blood magic to do it – the same blood of the men he coerced into battle. They had seen also how Ancar had thrown the Guild out of Hardorn, and while that might be the least of his misdeeds, they knew what kind of man Ancar was. They were mercenaries – they didn't expect to live to old age. They expected to die in battle. Why not make it a battle worth fighting? Why not make it a battle against a ruler who needed to be fought, who needed to be defeated – instead of some crusty noble who just wanted one more furlong for his stupid sheep?

Kerowyn held a vote, and promised to abide by the will of the soldiers and release any fighter who wanted out from his or her contract.

Not a single fighter voted to leave.

Taia was surprised; she had already decided that if her troupe had chosen to leave, she would abdicate leadership and stay behind. She couldn't let these Valdemarans die in a massacre while she turned tail and ran. Shin'a'in do not run. But her troupe was not made up of Shin'a'in, and she would not have held it against them had they chosen to take that path; and she certainly wasn't going to require them to take hers. But she was glad they had. Sad, too, because their deaths were almost inevitable – but glad. Proud.

The next morning they stood together on one side of a field, with all the armor they could wear, with all the weapons they could muster, and looked across at the probably insurmountable force before them. They were surprisingly calm, facing what was almost undoubtedly their impending deaths – and likely slow and painful ones, at that. They saw the cavalry coming from the east, knew the foot soldiers were coming from the west – it was going to be even worse than they thought. They didn't think the cavalry, at least, were that close; they had hoped they would have some time before they arrived, but Taia supposed it didn't matter much. Suddenly, a tiny grey streak shot out from the approaching cavalry and leaped into the arms of the darkest man Taia had ever seen – Geyr, Kerowyn had said. A smile broke out on Geyr's face as he handed the note the – dog, that's what it was – had been carrying to Kerowyn – who read it and broke out in a cheer.

"It's Daren! Those horses approaching are not Ancar's cavalry – it's Daren's foot soldiers! They broke the hold the mages had on Ancar's cavalry – and now they come to fight for us instead!"

A cheer broke out up and down the line. This would make all the difference. They were still outnumbered – but they were gaining fresh foot soldiers, plus the cavalry Ancar had lost – and with them, hope. Kerowyn called for a charge – Skybolt style. First the horse archers charged Ancar's front lines, firing arrows as they went; Taia and Whitestar joined in this. They then split down the middle riding to each side, firing as they went – Taia and Whitestar each shot two arrows at a time instead of one, and hit more of their marks than they missed – and returned to the line. Then came Valdemar's heavy cavalry with lances, followed by the light cavalry and the Heralds – and Taia and Whitestar re-entered the fray at this point with their swords and their knives. The horse archers made a second charge, this time firing into the back of Ancar's army, and the foot soldiers arrived to enter the fray – both Daren's and the Valdemaran regulars, along with the foot soldiers with the Fire Eagle contingent.

The fight went on for many candlemarks. Ishim was wounded in the chest – not life threatening, but no longer ridable. Taia gave him a command to take himself back to the stables as quickly as he could. She continued to fight on her feet with the foot soldiers. She and Whitestar had developed a fighting style where they kept their horses head-to-rump, fighting in a rotating fashion so that they guarded each other's backs while moving progressively forward. This was much harder with one afoot and one still on horseback; Cayen was fighting well, and had a few injuries but none that prevented her from continuing. Taia wasn't sure what to do; if they kept this position, one of them would fall, and due to the lifebond that would mean both of them. She needed a backup mount.

 _:Please saddle up and armor Kyesh:_ she bespoke the troupe's stablehand, with a mental picture of which one was Kyesh and an explanation of what command to use so that Kyesh would, in fact, allow the stablehand to do so. She then watched with her Farsight until the horse was fully prepared – and whistled as loud as she could for him to come to her. She saw him gallop towards her, fighting his way through, and when he arrived she launched herself to his back.

"I knew I trained this horse well, but I'm still amazed that it was successful!" she said to Whitestar. Kyesh had earned himself a serious bowl of treats.

The battle continued for a few more candlemarks but it was clear that Ancar's armies were going to lose. Casualties would be high, but Valdemar would succeed and defend its lands.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter nineteen**

In the aftermath of the war, Ishim was sent to Valdemar's animal healers and made a full recovery. Taia was surprised to notice that she had a rather significant slice to her left leg; in the heat of battle, she didn't even feel it. Whitestar had almost lost an arm just below the elbow – only her own healing abilities saved it. Cayen had a significant hamstring injury by the end of it; it was still a question of whether or not she would ever be able to be used in battle again, and Taia was pretty sure she'd retire her from the field even if she appeared able. There were plenty of battle-trained horses now that she didn't need to risk the ones with questionable injuries. Kyesh, having entered the battle late, only had a few scrapes. Not even the bondbirds escaped unscathed; all of them had arrow wounds to their wings, and it would be a while before they were able to fly again. Luckily, the wounds were through soft tissue only and would not result in permanent damage.

The biggest surprise was the fact that both Kerowyn and Daren had been Chosen by Companions in the midst of battle. That was a big enough shock – but it also appeared that Daren and the Queen, Selenay, were newly lifebonded. Since Selenay had previously been married to Daren's older brother, and Elspeth was the result of that union, this was raising some significant concerns among the council members. Elspeth's father had attempted to assassinate the Queen in a plan to take the throne for himself, not realizing that the Valdemaran throne could only be occupied by someone the Companions had Chosen. It was shocking to Taia that this man had not understood that one did not just go and get oneself a Companion; the Companion came and got you, if he or she found you to be worthy. She found it particularly shocking since the Rethwellan crown, the country where Ka _ratha_ nelan – the murderous first husband – was from, the next ruler was determined by an enchanted sword, which "spoke" for whichever individual it decided should be the next ruler. In any case, many council members worried that this was going to be a repeat performance by Rethwellan to take the Valdemaran throne by way of assassination. Taia found herself called to a council meeting, and wasn't sure why.

"Taia, I apologize for having you called here, but I must ask a favor of you," said the Queen. The Queen needed to ask her for a favor? Taia?

"Yes, your Majesty, what can I do for you?" Taia answered.

"As you may have heard, it was Prince Daren's elder brother who was responsible for…..some trouble here early in my reign. The council, understandably, is concerned that this – lifebond – is setting Valdemar up for a repeat of that trouble. I understand that you are also lifebonded, and was hoping you could explain to them why that is not likely to be the case," said Selenay, looking decidedly uncomfortable with having to discuss her personal life – and its implications – with a roomful of other people, and especially with Taia, a virtual stranger.

"Of course, your Majesty," said Taia. "You are correct, of course, that it is extremely unlikely for Prince Daren to attempt to…recreate his brother's crime. Even if that had been his intent on arriving here, with a lifebond it would be rendered quite impossible to proceed. I am lifebonded to Whitestar. If I murdered her, I would die shortly thereafter. If someone else killed her, I would die shortly thereafter. This is why it is called a lifebond – when one partner dies, regardless of cause, the other follows."

"But is it truly a lifebond, or is it fake?" asked one of the council members.

"And what about Herald-Mage Vanyel? He was lifebonded to that Tylendel character, and yet he outlived him by many years. How was that possible?" asked another.

"Good questions. In answer to the first, the lifebond is not fake. As you may be aware, I am a mage. I can see the energy of the lifebond between the Queen and the Prince. That cannot be faked. Further, you have the confirmation of your own Companions; if you would not trust me, you must trust them, as not only do they confirm the lifebond but both parties have been Chosen. I understand that they do not generally Choose the murderous types," she said. The council members nodded. "In answer to the second question, I am not fully versed in your history, but Whitestar is a descendant of your Vanyel and has heard stories of him from the Vale he received his mage training in. It happened to be k'Treva Vale, of which both of us are members. I am told that Vanyel would have followed Tylendel to the grave, and attempted to do so. He was stopped only because he was Chosen by Yfandes, and the bond with the Companion prevented him from doing so."

There were nods around the table, and visible sighs of relief from many of them.

"Thank you for your time, and for your candor," said Selenay. "I apologize again for summoning you to discuss my personal life."

"You're welcome, your Majesty," said Taia. "And it was no bother."

Taia turned and left the tent. She was happy to have helped; she could see where the council members would be disturbed at the prospect of having yet another Rethewellan prince marry their beloved Queen. Rethwellan was an ally, of course – which was the entire reason the Fire Eagles and the Skybolts were here, not to mention Daren himself – and there had never been any real suspicion that Ka _ratha_ nelan's actions were the product of anything other than his own ambition. However, no one wanted to make the mistake of trusting the wrong person again.

Taia and Whitestar spent the next several days recuperating from their injuries and tending the horses for theirs. Taia spent her evenings repairing weapons and armor. It wasn't likely they'd be fighting anyone again any time soon, but it was never a good idea to let the weapons and armor sit for long unrepaired. There were several holes in both hers and Whitestar's armor where arrows or sword blades, spears or knives had broken a link on the chainmail; the leather armor was not repairable and would need to be replaced. Similarly with the horse's armor – many holes in the chainmail. Most of the arrow shafts were broken, and just in case they were weakened Taia thought it would be a good idea to replace them all. That meant all the feathers needed to be carefully removed, and the broken ones discarded. The heads would also need to be carefully removed, cleaned, re-sharpened and re-applied to the new arrow shafts. This was tedious and careful work; Taia had to intersperse it with work on the armor or the blades, just to keep her muscles from cramping in one position and keep from getting sloppy. She cleaned and re-sharpened every blade and re-wrapped the handles; many times, particularly after major battles, there was no way the blood could be cleaned from the leather wrappings. It would get trapped underneath the leather, and rust the metal and make the wrappings smell, if nothing else. So Taia unwrapped them, cleaned the handles, and used new leather to rewrap. Fortunately, they had plenty of squirrel hides to use as wrappings; the hides weren't big enough to use as anything else, usually, and they ate a lot of squirrel.

After about a moon all the weapons had been repaired or refit, the armor was repaired and injuries were healed enough at least to travel. Ishim and Cayen were still moving stiffly, but as long as the pace was not strenuous they would be ok to return to the stronghold – they couldn't be ridden, though, which left Kyesh, Iena, Tika and Zere to be their bearers. It wasn't a problem, though; it wasn't like they had a deadline. They might take some contracts late in the season, but by the time they arrived back at the stronghold the fighting season would be almost over. The bondbirds all had to ride, though, which they found extremely irritating; it also meant Taia and Whitestar – as well as the rest of the troupe – would have to hunt for themselves. And the birds. It was an interesting change in duties.

"We're going to have to make a detour at least to Kata'shin'a'in," said Taia. "Tyke can't fly a message to Brandi that we lived, and if she doesn't hear from us in the next couple of moons she will be on her way to claim the herd."

"Excellent point," Whitestar replied. "I suppose we should do that rather than go to the stronghold first and then to the Plains."

Taia sighed. She was really looking forward to her own hut, humble though it was. Over the years it had been made quite cozy; the floor was covered in luxurious bearskin rugs, the walls in deerhide. They had painted the walls with various Shin'a'in and Tale'edras designs. The bed was covered in wolf hide blankets and rabbit skins carefully stitched together to make for very soft, very warm sleeping – they could have gotten linen sheets like real civilized people, and they did have some. But when they were gone for long periods of time on campaign, they just got dusty and dirty and had to be washed; what Taia and Whitestar usually wanted to do upon their return was fall into their bed and sleep, not wash sheets. The furs only had to be shaken out. Plus they were warmer; considering the fact that most of the time they spent there was in the winter, warmth was a major goal. Taia very much wanted to return to their own little house – she was even willing to wash the linen sheets, since it was still late summer and way too warm for the furs.

But it was not to be, unless she wanted to make her sister make an unnecessary, grief-filled trip to the stronghold to claim horses that belonged to a Taia who was not, in fact, dead. So Taia placed Milna in charge of the troupe in her absence and after re-crossing the Combs – Taia and Whitestar were glad to do this, since it also got them away from the _vrondii_ – they parted ways. The troupe headed south and east towards the stronghold; Taia and Whitestar headed south and west towards the Dhorisha Plains. It would be nice to visit Brandi and Jacqui again; even nicer to not be fighting Ancar for awhile, to have a chance to recover completely. Unfortunately, Ancar had not been killed in the battle, since he was too cowardly to fight; but it would be some time before he could muster up another army, coerced or not. There were only so many people to use. Taia had no doubt that eventually, she would be fighting Ancar again – but not yet. Not yet.

They arrived at Wolf Clan at dusk. They were welcomed with the usual promises of avoiding magic and escorted to Brandi and Jacqui's tent. Brandi and Jacqui were understandably surprised to see them; they had heard how horrible the fighting had been with Ancar and while Brandi knew just how good Taia was with a sword, both Taia and Whitestar had to stay alive for either of them to. That was a much bigger gamble, particularly in a war as violent and high in casualties as the one they had fought. Not just that, but they were expecting to receive word via Tyke if they had survived – not by their physical presence. But they were happy to see them nonetheless.

They shared dinner and some kava; Taia had killed a couple of rabbits along the way as their contribution towards being surprise dinner guests.

"The Fire Eagles are gaining quite the reputation with you at the helm," said Brandi.

"Really?" asked Taia. "What have you heard?"

"You apparently have quite the gift for strategy," said Brandi. "You've won battles against Ancar that you really should have lost, by all logical accounts."

"But we've lost so many troops. I can't get our numbers above two-thirds strength, and right now I'm not even sure we're over half," said Taia.

"Haven't you noticed that when there is a battle against Ancar where someone else is making the tactical decisions, the mercenary troupes – and sometimes the regulars – are decimated?" asked Brandi. "You might be losing a lot of troops, but without you – those companies are losing more, sometimes everything"

"Huh. I hadn't noticed, actually, I don't hear much about the battles I'm not actually in – too busy fighting the ones I am, I guess! But the Skybolts are doing well. The war in Valdemar, we used almost entirely their leader's tactical ideas," said Taia.

"Does she really ride a Shin'a'in warsteed?" asked Jacqui.

"Yes she does," said Whitestar. "Hellsbane. She's the granddaughter of Kethryveris – you know, Tarma shena'Talesedrin's she'enedra. Didn't grow up on the Plains – her mother was the youngest, married a mercenary actually and from what Kerowyn said, never went outside again! But she has cousins in Tale'sedrin, so she's entitled."

"I suppose you'll be wanting one of those too, now, won't you?" teased Brandi.

"No, actually," said Taia. "I probably should, but it's so hard for me to get replacement mounts if I have to get them from the Plains. I've been giving my horses extra training and I'm going to start breeding them with some Ashkevron outcrosses to build their size a bit."

"Honestly, that might be the better idea," said Brandi. "I don't have one, myself; if I were a mercenary, I'd be able to get one from the Clan, but you won't get one from Pretera'sedrin and I don't believe our elders would be willing to give you one of ours. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," said Taia. "I know it's more difficult for me to get things that I would otherwise be entitled to, since not only am I a mage but I'm also disowned by my own Clan. I'm just glad I'm able to breed my own little herd, and glad you're able to help me out with the breeding as well! Speaking of breeding, could I utilize some stud service for my females while I'm here?"

"Of course," said Brandi. "Actually, I was wondering if I could swap stud services while you're here – I wouldn't mind some foals from Ishim and Kyesh."

So they spent a sennight with Brandi and Jacqui, during which Iena, Cayen and Zere were mated with some of Brandi's stallions; Ishim and Kyesh provided service to four of Brandi's mares. Tika, having a yearling foal at home, was not ready to breed again yet, so she was left alone. They enjoyed their week; Taia learned that despite her feeling that she was mediocre at best as a mercenary captain, her reputation was quite good. In fact, it was that reputation that inspired Kerowyn to ask her to come with her and the Skybolts to Valdemar in the first place. So the entire time Taia was feeling star-struck by Kerowyn – Kerowyn was an admirer of hers. She was rather glad of that; not that Kerowyn was an admirer, exactly, but she had liked the woman. It was unlikely they'd ever meet again – Kerowyn was going to be a Herald now, and Taia was not likely to enter Valdemar again. She had managed to not be driven mad by those vrondii for the duration of her time there, but had no desire to see if she could repeat the feat. But it was nice to think she had a friend there, should she ever need one.

"So Kiri has been spending a lot of time with Pretera'sedrin," said Brandi. "I guess our dear mother is ill, and Kiri is trying to convince the shaman to send for a real Healer – he has actually banished the Healers, now, too, deciding that only herb healers are allowed. I cannot believe the elders have let it get this far. Or that the other Clans aren't doing anything."

"Wow," said Taia. "I had no idea things were that bad. I can't imagine what the shaman could possibly find heretical about a Healer."

"Apparently he believes that if the Star Eyed wants the person to survive, She will allow it with nothing more than the herbs She planted. If not, the person probably committed some atrocious crime and deserves her fate," said Jacqui.

"And Healing is akin to magic, in his view," said Brandi. "Anything he doesn't possess himself or understand – he decides is evil."

"Sadly, that isn't uncommon outside of the Plains," said Taia. "Many people have decided that if it is different from them, it is evil, and must be destroyed. I can't tell you how many of the mercenary companies are hired to fight just such a battle – or against them."

"True," said Brandi. "I just…..I suppose I'm shocked to see it here, within my own people. I had thought we were special, I suppose."

"In any case, I don't know whether or not to hope Minka lives," said Taia. She had never referred to her as her mother again, after declaring her to be an oathbreaker years ago. She wasn't any kind of mother, in Taia's opinion. "On the one hand, I don't truly wish for anyone's death – except, perhaps, Ancar's. On the other – I can't say that I'd be terribly sad over it, either."

"I can see that," said Brandi. "But – I remember when things were better. When the shaman had only just arrived, and we didn't know how bad he would be. When father was still alive. She was a different person then. So I guess, maybe I'll mourn for who she could have been. What could have been."

"There is that," said Taia. "I will hope that Kiri is successful, if for no other reason than when the children get sick, they'll want to still be allowed a real Healer. The elders sure are missing the ball on this one."

"I heard from Greyhawk on the way here," said Whitestar. "Apparently, the Heartstone in k'Sheyna Vale is becoming erratic. They can't say why, it's just – strange. I heard they were thinking of sending one of our Adepts – a cousin of mine, actually – to try and help. So if it's any comfort, the Shin'a'in are not the only ones to have a rogue clan – the Tale'edras do too!"

"Wow," said Jacqui. "I don't understand what a Heartstone is, but I do understand rogue magic. That sounds really frightening. Are they safe?"

"I really don't know," said Whitestar. "Greyhawk didn't really have any more information than that – he's a scout, not a mage – he's not really in the practice of keeping track of what the mages do. He focuses his energy on keeping the border safe"

"Something I see he has in common with his sister," said Jacqui. Whitestar smiled.

They left the morning after that conversation. They were sad to go, but the bondbirds were able to fly again – at least short distances – and the horses were fully healed. So were they. Taia had work to do back at the stronghold. There were recruits to sign and train. There were horses to train. There was armor and weapons to make, sleep to be had, leisure to enjoy. And she missed her little hut, and the rest of her herd. She missed her troupe. It was truly wonderful to spend a week here on the Plains with her sister – but it was time to go home.

Taia was sad that her mother was ill. She really did hope that she recovered – and she probably would be more upset about it than she let on. But at the same time, Minka had banished one daughter, been willing to let another be killed and at the very least did nothing to care for or protect her, and something had happened to convince Kiri to become Swordsworn. Taia and Kiri had never been terribly close, but she liked to think that she knew her well enough that she would have known, before she left, that Kiri had been leaning that way. She decided to go off for a walk one evening during the trip back to the stronghold, just to think; maybe she would use some Farsight to check in on Minka and Kiri, see how things were going.

She was walking along a trail in the half-dark; she reached out with her Farsight and looked towards where she knew the Pretera'sedrin Clan would be. She couldn't see much – Minka would be inside the tent, of course, why hadn't she realized that? But at least she couldn't see anything indicating there was anyone in mourning. She was ready to return to herself, return to Whitestar – when the world went black.

She woke up with a blazing headache. She felt beaten, bruised, and sore – in places she shouldn't be sore. There was a lump on the back of her head, slowly oozing blood. She could feel that she had bruises on her wrists and ankles, and when she tried to move them – her legs moved, but something – her arms were chained to a wall. What had happened? How could she have been caught so unaware? And her clothes…where were her clothes? She wasn't wearing any, which seemed – that was the reason she was sore. She had been used, and from the way she felt – more than once. Being a female, and a mercenary captain – she was familiar with the fact that enemies who captured a female merc, and often the males as well, would rape them, often repeatedly. So she couldn't say she was terribly surprised by that – dismayed, angry, and a whole lot of other feelings she didn't want to identify just yet, but not surprised. She would deal with that later, once she got out of here. She didn't have her clothes, and therefore her weapons were of no use to her – she hadn't been wearing the swords, but the knives had been handy. She never went anywhere completely unarmed. But she was never unarmed, even when she didn't have a single blade on her; she was a mage, and a powerful one.

So – she gathered her energies, despite the raging headache, and prepared to blast through the chains on her wrists with a lightning bolt. And found that nothing came of it. She couldn't muster a lightning bolt. She couldn't cast a single spell. She couldn't even use her Mindspeech to contact Whitestar – she couldn't use any magic at all, be it true magic or mindmagic. There was a blankness where her Gifts had been, and she couldn't even sense Whitestar through the lifebond. She knew that Whitestar had to be alive, since it was a lifebond; but she couldn't sense her.

She was in trouble.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter twenty**

Whitestar was startled by the sound of Ryki and Sera screeching. She couldn't Mindspeak them, of course – they were Taia's bondbirds. She could only Mindspeak her own, that was the nature of the bond. They were clearly distressed, however; and she needed to find out why.

:Taia? Dearheart?: she tried to contact her lifebonded – and that's when she noticed. She couldn't. The sense of warmth where "Taia" was supposed to be was blank. Now that was terrifying; that warmth had been so much a part of her since they were fourteen years old that she didn't even think about it anymore. Sensing Taia was normally like breathing. Suddenly she was fighting panic – where was Taia? What had happened to Taia? She couldn't be dead – Whitestar would know that, she was sure of it. So what had happened?

:Syen: she bespoke her eagle. :Syen, something happened to Taia. Ask Ryki. Ask Sera.:

She felt the bird's agreement, then a silence. The birds were talking to each other.

:Taia taken. Hurt. Cannot fight free, cannot feel her.:

Now that was something. The birds couldn't feel her either; something was really wrong.

:Did they see who? Where they went?: Silence again.

:Strange. Man like cat, walking on two legs. Hit on head, did magic. Dragged away. West.:

:Thank you. See if the four of you can scout and find her.:

Again, she sensed Syen's agreement. All four birds took off flying; she felt a little guilty, they were not Healed enough for long flights, but this was an emergency. She loaded up the horses as quickly as she could and put out the fire. She jumped on Cayen and commanded the rest of the horses to follow – and took off at a canter back towards the Plains, back the way they'd come. She would have gone at a gallop, but it was too far. She would have run the horses lame, and besides that it wasn't light enough anymore. The horses could trip, break a leg, their neck, and throw her off – and she could die. That would be just as fatal to Taia as leaving her – wherever she was. So a canter it was, although every bit of her body wanted to gallop as fast as she could towards – wherever, she didn't even know where she was going, she only knew she needed help.

So she went back to Wolf Clan, back to Brandi and Jacqui – and arrived out of breath, all six horses lathered in a sweat, and nearly incoherent with panic.

"Taia – they took her – she's in trouble – " she rambled.

"What?!" said Brandi. "Who took her? Where did they take her?"

"I don't know, I just know she's been taken, the birds say west, they're scouting, and we have to hurry she's hurt – "

"Slow down. We can't help her if we rush and get ourselves killed before we even find her. Can you sense her? At all?"

"It's blank. The lifebond, it's just blank," Whitestar sobbed.

"That doesn't seem right. If she were dead, you'd know, right?" said Jacqui.

"Yes, yes I think so," said Whitestar.

"Then settle down. Breathe. And focus. Can you sense her?" asked Jacqui.

Whitestar forced herself to relax. She took several deep breaths and closed her eyes. She focused – hard – on the place that had for so long said "Taia". And after a minute, she could sense Taia – muffled, like a tiny bird squeaking from underneath a thousand blankets – but she could sense her. She could tell she was injured, could tell she was – she wasn't sure, but something was wrong. Something was definitely blocking Taia's Gifts, but that was unimportant right now. She could sense her. And if she could sense her, she could find her.

"I can sense her! I can sense her, and if I can sense her I can find her. Come on, we have to – " she started to get back up on her horse, but Brandi pulled her down.

"We have to rest. The horses need to rest. If you try to take them to rescue her now, they will founder. And so will you – and then both of you are lost. Go wash yourself, have something to eat, and take a nap. I will tend to your horses, and in a few candlemarks I will wake you and we will go," said Brandi.

"Sleep? Eat? Taia's a prisoner, they're doing – Goddess knows what to her, and you want me to sleep and eat? Are you mad?" said Whitestar.

"It is necessary," said Brandi. "It is also the middle of the night. We cannot go riding the horses off on a rescue mission in the middle of the night, they will be injured, and take us with them, and then what good will we be to Taia? None. Nor will be any good to her if you are so exhausted that you cannot Heal her of whatever injuries she is bound to have. Now go and rest."

Whitestar could see the reasoning behind this – the rational part of her even agreed. But she balked. Until she nearly collapsed from her own exhaustion right there, and Jacqui helped her to a bedroll and laid her down on it. Whitestar was shocked to find that she fell asleep immediately.

When she woke, the horses were recovered and stripped of all nonessential equipment. There was food sitting on a plate next to her bedroll, which she was surprised to find herself eating ravenously before she even noticed she was hungry. Brandi had constructed a sort of stretcher, which was able to be folded up so that one horse could carry it without it hampering her movement. The others were ready to go – even Jessup. Jessup, however, would have to remain here. He was a good horse, but he couldn't manage the pace they needed to set.

Whitestar mounted Iena and commanded the rest to follow. Brandi would ride Kyesh and Jacqui would ride Cayen; to Whitestar's surprise, word had reached Kiri, who showed up on her own horse ready to come and help. They were off to rescue Taia. Whitestar just hoped they would make it in time.

They rode west, with the birds scouting as much as their wings would allow. They took turns, so that two of them were scouting at all times and the other two were resting; Whitestar, for her part, spent her days largely in trance, trying to locate Taia through what she could feel of the lifebond. There were times when she could tell they were torturing Taia, beating her, raping her – and she nearly went catatonic with what she could feel through the bond and with her Empathy until Brandi again told her that she needed to focus. She needed to block out that pain and focus on just the task at hand; find Taia. Find where she was, find who was holding her and then devise a plan to rescue her. There were only four of them, against Goddess knew how many or what they were capable of; they needed to be on top of their game and have a solid plan, and they couldn't do that if they weren't completely focused. So Whitestar focused. She shut down shields around her Gifts tighter than she had ever done before and she focused on nothing more than which direction to go.

They traveled all day, resting when they had to but not for long, and cold camped at night. They ate mostly bread that Brandi and Jacqui had brought with a few trail rations that Whitestar had left over from the trip back from the battlefield; she was grateful then that they had eaten mostly whatever they had hunted for themselves, and had those rations left. The humans weren't willing to take the time to hunt and the birds weren't yet able to hunt for more than their own basic needs. They broke camp at dawn every day and followed the trail of whatever Whitestar could sense. She knew they were getting closer – her sense of Taia was getting ever so slightly stronger. She had to reinforce her shields to block out what was being done to her, just so they could keep going. It took them a little more than an entire moon to find where they were keeping her.

Late one evening, the birds found a sort of castle – it wasn't as big as a real palace, but it looked like what had once been a fortress. It was made of stone and had few windows. The birds insisted that the cat-man was here, and so Taia was here. And Whitestar was sure they were correct. So the four women sat and devised a plan – the rescue would take place the following morning. As much as the element of surprise was greater at night, the guards at this particular fortress knew their terrain – and the four women didn't. They would need to be able to see what they were doing. So they would wait. And Whitestar would guard them from detection with an illusion spell – the other three women might be Shin'a'in, but she was not. They could benefit from the use of magic without actually using it themselves. They didn't object.

She just hoped they made it in time, and that whatever they found – that they could defeat it and rescue Taia.

Taia opened her eyes. Or rather, her eye – the left one was swollen completely shut. She was in a cell, of some kind, with a tiny window high on the wall – far higher than she could reach, and the walls were such that she couldn't climb them, even if she could get her hands free to try. There was no light, except what little came in through that window, and the candle or torchlight brought along when her captors came to…visit. She was chained to the wall by her wrists, and there was a locked gate in front of her. They had been 'kind' enough to leave a blanket on the dirt floor for her – not that she could use it to cover herself, with her hands chained to the wall above her head, but it did serve as a barrier between her naked body and the dirt floor. She supposed it was better than nothing. Twice a day she was freed from her shackles and taken to relieve herself, and watched while she ate – a sort of gruel that made the worst travel rations she'd ever tasted seem like a noble feast. When the guards were gone, she was alone. And at night, not even the moon's light was strong enough to penetrate that window; she was left in pitch blackness.

She had figured out that while she had been unconscious, whoever had abducted her had placed a spell on her which left her magic abilities – even her mind magic – blocked. She was aware of such spells; a Journeyman could place them, given the inability of the victim to fight back. They were incredibly easy to place, and incredibly easy to break – from the outside. From the inside, they were impossible. So she was left with whatever she could accomplish physically; which wasn't much. She was pretty sure her food was drugged; she spent an inordinate amount of time asleep. She tried a hunger strike, but they just force-fed her. Apparently her captor wasn't going to let her go that easily. Her arms were generally kept chained to the wall and often her feet as well. She was pretty sure she had at least one broken wrist and likely an ankle as well, and several ribs – and probably that cheekbone where the eye was swollen shut, likely her nose. She was beaten and raped regularly by she wasn't sure how many guards, but her most frequent visitor was –

She wasn't sure who he was, or what he was. Clearly he was a mage of some strength; he had applied the magic-binding spell and then Gated to this – castle? She wasn't sure where she was, but she was in a dungeon. There was a lot of stone, which made her think castle, but she couldn't be sure. Her captor was a large male, with features that made him look like a – cat? But that was strange. She had seen several non-human species while living in the Vales, but never one like this. She had heard of the ratha – the cat-equivalent of the kyree – but that didn't seem like what this – person was. She had overheard some of the guards refer to him as – morne- Mornelithe? Falconsbane. Yes. That was his name. He was clearly a mage, likely a blood-mage. How had he managed to catch her unaware enough to knock her unconscious? She was a trained Shin'a'in mercenary! A Captain, no less.

He visited her regularly, and in between raping her – using all possible orifices, no less – he inflicted various methods of torture on her. Burns, lacerations, carefully placed whips and punches…..and they all served to further excite him, which led to more…..when he was finally sated, he would laugh and leave, only to have the guards enter and pick up where he had left off. She had never had anyone touch her…..there….except Whitestar. She couldn't believe how horrible it was; she had had members of her troupe return from being captured by the enemy having been raped and beaten, and they were never quite the same; but they generally recovered. She wondered if she ever would, even if she survived long enough to try.

She asked him once, when he came to her cell, why. Why her, why this?

"The more powerful the prey, the more satisfying the conquest," he said. "And because I can."

The worst, though, the worst were the coercion spells. Falconsbane put coercion spells on her that made her actually want him to inflict this on her. She couldn't help it, either – one part of her mind was left alone, so she was aware of what she was doing and what he was dong to her. But the spell took over and made her beg, even cry, sob for him to be inside her. She was mortified every time it happened, but she couldn't stop. She couldn't break the spell, any more than she could access her magic abilities. So she crawled on her knees to him, crying, begging him to enter her, with her legs spread. Her body even betrayed her and responded with pleasure, while her mind recoiled in absolute horror and disgust – both by him and what he was doing, as well as how she couldn't stop herself from behaving.

She hoped that Whitestar was at least looking for her, and not trapped herself somewhere in another cell. At the same time she never wanted Whitestar to find her, to know what had been done to her, what she had been forced to do. She knew she wasn't the only captive – she could hear the others sometimes, crying, screaming…but as far as she could tell, she was the only one to be exactly this type of captive. At least, she didn't hear Whitestar, and so she chose to assume that she wasn't there. Or at least, she chose to hope so. There was one other – person – she knew Falconsbane was 'enjoying' in this manner; a small girl who also looked like a cat, named Nyara. Apparently, she was his daughter. The man's cruelty, depravity – it knew no bounds. Nyara wasn't exactly a captive, though, and she wasn't exactly free; she wasn't kept in a cell, but she wasn't allowed to leave, either. Taia wondered, half-heartedly, that if she stopped trying to fight back would he let her move freely around the castle? Not that she could move in any way other than to crawl, with a broken ankle. She figured that if she lived long enough to find out, she would try it only after she was absolutely certain that Whitestar wasn't able to rescue her. Because not fighting didn't seem like an option, not one she could respect herself for. Not that she had a lot of self-respect left.

And then came Falconsbane's new game. He learned how to create even better torture techniques, by using magic instead of whips and fire pokers. He started to crush her bones. He started with her toes – feet are alarmingly sensitive to pain, and yet not at all useful to her current condition. He created such internal pressure on her bones that they were crushed in place, causing exquisite pain, inability to use that particular bone or joint – and used the increased level of pain to give himself more power, as well as greater levels of excitement. He raped her with ever-increasing vigor and violence, to the point that even Taia wondered whether or not he'd ever tire of her. She wasn't even attractive anymore – her face was swollen almost beyond recognition. She had so many bruises, burns, cuts, lumps on her body she wasn't sure whether she still had breasts and hips or just swollen lumps of flesh. Even the guards only used her with the sense of fulfilling a physical need, rather than the excitement and violence they had used previously, when she looked – human. Not that she was complaining.

Falconsbane had progressed to crushing the bones in her legs. The pain was excruciating. She had learned that if she held the area containing the bone completely still, she would do no further damage; only the bone was crushed, not the bone marrow inside and not the tissue surrounding it. If he progressed to her spine and her skull, this would be exceptionally useful information to have. So she lay on her blanket, now filthy with her own blood and the…stuff from the guards and Falconsbane, unable to move even a small amount. He progressed to her pelvis, one piece of it at a time – and she thought crushing her feet was painful. He was limited to her mouth, now, as far as orifices were concerned. The spell coercing her to beg for him was still in place, and so now she had, in addition to the pain of her crushed bones and the degradation of the oral performances she was forced to give, the humiliation of feeling the desire for him…..elsewhere…..without the satisfaction. The part of her brain that was aware of this agony was simultaneously disgusted by her feelings and glad that she was going…..unfulfilled.

Falconsbane progressed to crushing her fingers. Then her wrists. Her arms, first the forearms, then the upper. Then her ribs, one level at a time. Now she had to be extremely careful with every breath; too much movement and she would puncture a lung with one of the rib fragments hovering around in place. She was able to sense that he had left her extremely limited Healing ability intact – ironic, but it was largely for the purpose of keeping her alive for his further enjoyment. She did wonder also if it was because it was so tiny he didn't even know it was there. He progressed to her spine, one vertebrae at a time. The guards had at least relented somewhat and removed the shackles from her wrists; she couldn't have escaped now even if she wanted to, or even fought back. All she could do was lie on the filthy blanket and focus on not shredding her lungs and other internal organs with the suspended bone shards within her body.

Falconsbane began to crush her skull. First the facial bones, then he started on the different parts surrounding her brain. Now she couldn't be used for other…..enjoyments, but was still providing Falconsbane with magical energy due to his feeding off her pain – not that she was able to spare any consciousness to feel it anymore. She had to stay awake at all times, focusing on not moving a single muscle; if she fell asleep, or passed out, she might inadvertently turn her head – severing her spinal cord. She wasn't sure why she persisted in staying alive; surely she couldn't survive this. But Whitestar was still alive – and they were lifebonded. If Taia died…..so did Whitestar. And Taia loved Whitestar with every piece of her soul; if she could prolong Whitestar's life, even through her own pain – she would do it. And still, there was the possibility of rescue; even if she couldn't be Healed, at least they could be together. At least they could say goodbye.

Taia had all but given up. Falconsbane had crushed every bone in her body; there was nothing left of her to torture. He seemed to be trying to find something more he could do with Taia's barely-breathing carcass, but anything he did would cause her death. He burned her arms and legs with the fire pokers, but that wasn't anything new. He burned her in other places – but again, nothing new. He was finally bored. Taia thought, with a great deal of irony, but it was true. No Gift was completely useless, so even though tiny it should be trained for use; her Gift of Healing was so tiny that training it had taken about a candlemark. It was only good for keeping her own self alive until a real Healer could arrive – and that was exactly what she was doing. She was using that nearly-useless Gift to keep herself alive, despite the fact that she was quite certain the cause was hopless. She would never get out of here. She would stay alive only until she no longer had any personal energy to use to feed this tiny Gift – which would be quite awhile, because it was so small, she almost regenerated her energy faster than she could use it with this Gift.

And so she persisted for several days; keeping herself alive, but for what purpose she couldn't say. Falconsbane visited her periodically, still, to see if he could discover some new torture by which to amuse himself; she had little unburned or untorn flesh left for him to injure. Even her hair was ragged with pieces torn out. Her fingernails and toenails had long since been ripped from their beds. She supposed he could start destroying her teeth – but she wasn't going to point that out, certainly. She wondered, briefly, why he hadn't thought of it, or to cut off her nose, her ears, her fingers, her toes. She figured he would, eventually, and resigned herself to that eventuality. She was considering giving it up, to turn her head just once and hope it was sufficiently the wrong way so as to sever her spinal cord quickly. Or to simply pick her head up off the ground – and allow it to fall back onto the ground. It would take so little, so very very little…..and her misery would be over. But she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Not…quite…yet…

Suddenly, Taia heard a commotion – and there was Brandi and Jacqui, fighting back to back, defeating the guards! Taia almost cried out, her beautiful, wonderful sister had come to rescue her – until she realized that even if they succeeded in defeating the guards, the minute they came and tried to carry Taia out, they would inadvertenly kill her. They couldn't tell her bones were broken. And Taia had no way to tell them. What would she do? She began to despair, even as she had been briefly hopeful.

But then there was Whitestar by her side, breaking the spells guarding Taia's magic. She had used up most of her personal energies to stay alive, feeding her tiny Healing Gift – but now she could find a node, and she did. She used it to feed Whitestar as she Healed Taia of the life-threatening bone breaks, stabilizing first her skull, then her spinal column – and then the fight was over. Brandi and Jacqui had defeated the guards, and Taia felt a kind of snap she knew meant that Falconsbane was no longer a threat. It was not safe to stay, but they were able to leave. But how? Taia couldn't be carried, she wasn't stable enough for that.

"Fetching," said Whitestar. "You use your Fetching to hold yourself aloft, I will use my Healing to keep you immobilized and we will Fetch you to the stretcher."

Taia did just that. She focused on Fetching herself up into the air, floating at about waist-height. She felt her muscles become immobile and felt Whitestar holding her destroyed limbs in place. Brandi and Jacqui's eyes went wide when they saw her – she wasn't sure whether they were shocked that she was floating or at the state of her body – it didn't matter. They led the way, fighting and defeating any guards they found along the way. The bondbirds guarded their rear; Taia was ecstatic to see them again, as well. It seemed like days before they managed to exit the castle, but it was only a candlemark. They had to move slowly, both to make sure the path was clear as well as to keep Taia stable. Twice they had to stop so that Whitestar could stabilize something, or Taia could take a break – her physical exhaustion translated into mental exhaustion, despite not having used her Gifts for over a moon. But they eventually did arrive at the stretcher, suspended between Tika and Zere, who had been trained along the way to walk in perfect step with each other. Taia and Whitestar guided her body onto the stretcher and settled it down. Whitestar covered Taia with a bear skin, then mounted Ishim while Brandi mounted Kyesh and Jacqui on Cayen – and they were safe, and headed – they weren't sure where they were headed, but away from here.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter twenty-one**

When they were sure they were safe, they made camp. Taia was passed out from pain and injury, Whitestar nearly so with exhaustion. Jacqui and Brandi made camp; Kiri joined them just as the tent went up. The birds brought some squirrels and rabbits for dinner, which Brandi and Jacqui gratefully accepted and cooked for the group while Kiri took care of the horses. When they were done, Whitestar choked down her share; she was exhausted, but knew that if she didn't eat she wouldn't do Taia a bit of good in the morning. She wished she could get a few bites into Taia, but since she was already unconscious, that wasn't going to work. Whitestar could not, however, make her eyes stay open for a single second after her last gulp of water and collapsed onto her bedroll next to Taia.

The other three women sat around the fire for awhile. Kiri was quiet; she seemed pensive, and a bit discouraged.

"So," said Brandi, "you got the bastard, right?"

"I'm not sure, actually," said Kiri, with a note of confusion and frustration. "I shot arrows at him, straight at his heart – and not just me. There were other Kal'enedral, even some of the Leshya'e Kal'enedral, and we all shot arrows – but there was no body. Blood, but no body, it disappeared in some….smoke."

"How is that possible?" asked Jacqui. "I mean, what they say – Kal'enedral rarely miss their mark, the Leshya'e, never – how could he have possibly survived?"

"I'm not at all sure he did, I think he just – did some magic thing, disappeared to die. But I can't be sure," Kiri said.

"Why were there other Kal'enedral there, or Leshya'e? I mean, we certainly think Taia is worth the effort, but we didn't think anyone else was aware of her capture," said Brandi.

"Honestly, I was the only one aware of Taia's predicament. The rest were there because Falconsbane was there to attack k'Sheyna Vale. I just happened to join them on my way to get him – I didn't know they were going for the same purpose, and they didn't know I was there either. It was pure coincidence, actually. But that's not the half of it," said Kiri.

"Well, don't keep us waiting!" said Jacqui. "What happened?"

"There were Outlanders there," said Kiri. "Several of them. Two, a man and a woman, on the white spirit-horses of Valdemar. And gryphons, and a strange magic sword. And a young woman with the same odd cat features as Falconsbane – I suppose I should have mentioned, he was a changechild."  
"Gryphons?!" said Brandi.

"Changechild?!" said Jacqui at the same time.

"Yes," said Kiri. "And somewhere along the line – somehow, Falconsbane had trapped a Hawkbrother woman into the body of her bondbird, and she would have died a slow death as her consciousness died and the falcon, left without a mind at all, would have followed thereafter except the Star Eyed intervened. She was made into the Goddess' own Avatar, a vorcel hawk. I feel like I'm telling a tale, but it all happened before my eyes!"

Brandi and Jacqui were dumbfounded. This was all too much – changechildren? Gryphons? Magic swords – and an avatar of the Star Eyed Herself?

"What were the Outlanders doing there?" asked Jacqui.

"I have no idea," said Kiri. "But they passed through the Plains, with permission of Tale'sedrin and the Kal'enedral. That I know, for I was assigned to watch them for part of their journey. I believe they were looking for mage training – the woman was assisting k'Sheyna in the attack on Falconsbane."

"Outlanders? Crossed the Plains?" said Brandi. "That has never happened before!"

"Times are, apparently, changing," said Kiri.

They all felt silent, each lost in her own thoughts. The Outlanders had passed through the Plains – that would have been a great enough shock. No Outlander had ever been allowed to even enter the Plains, let alone cross it. The Shin'a'in guarded the Plains with their lives, in protection of the magical weapons even Urtho had decreed too dangerous to use – no Outlander would have been allowed anywhere near them, and yet these two had been allowed to cross unhindered. For mage training? By k'Sheyna mages? Brandi had heard whisperings of trouble within that Vale, but didn't have any idea what those troubles might be. If called upon for assistance, she was honor bound to provide it to her Tale'edras cousins; but until that time, their troubles were not her business.

And a magic sword? Well that was just bizarre, and she couldn't even begin to know what to make of that. The gryphons – well, she knew they existed once, and was surprised to discover they still did, and with their nearest Tale'edras cousins, to boot? That was a shock. She wanted to know more about them; where were they from? What were they like? But the Avatar of the Star Eyed Goddess?! That left her speechless. Such a thing had never happened. She fell asleep next to Jacqui, both of them silent, both of them not knowing what to think of the story Kiri had told.

The next morning the group awoke, and ate a bit of breakfast around the fire. Even Taia was awake and Whitestar managed to get her to drink a bit of broth and swallow some small pieces of meat whole – with her jaw broken, it was impossible to chew. Taia didn't even try to speak, or even look at anyone; she just stared into the distance, swallowing when Whitestar told her to. Whitestar spent some time Healing her jaw at least to the point that she could speak, if she so chose, and doing some more work on her skull and spine. They loaded up the horses and Fetched Taia onto the stretcher again to continue their journey; Whitestar was inclined to take Taia to the Vale, and had determined that as soon as she felt able she would Gate them all to their respective homes. She could never build a Gate both for herself, Taia and the horses to k'Treva as well as one for Brandi, Jacqui and Kiri to the Plains while she was expending all her energy on Healing – but she would be expending that energy on Healing for the forseeable future. Bone healing was difficult, painstaking for the Healer – and enormously painful to the recipient. It also required far more physical resources on the part of the recipient than Taia currently had available – it wasn't as if she had been eating particularly well, or at all, for some time. Whitestar could only feed her broth and small bites due to the state of her jaw as well as her weakened state, so recovery was particularly slow. Taia was in shock; she needed a Mind Healer, which Whitestar could do, but she was not the best; the best she knew of was at k'Treva.

But she didn't have to build the Gate and perform the Healing based on strictly her own energies. She had access also to Taia's mage energies through the lifebond, which was not weakened in the least by Taia's physical state. Her ability to use it herself was, but Whitestar didn't require that. So on the morning of the third day away from the castle, Whitestar built two Gates – one for Brandi, Jacqui and Kiri to pass through to the edge of Wolf Clan camp, and one for herself, Taia and their horses to pass through to the edge of k'Treva Vale. Taia wasn't excited to return to the Vale – she wasn't ready to be surrounded by people. But she knew Whitestar wasn't going to be able to properly Heal her, not by herself, not out in a tent in the middle of a forest, and she also knew they weren't entirely safe in that forest. Any number of mage-created creatures – wyrsa, cold-drakes, even just a regular chagebeast – could come across them at any time, and Taia certainly couldn't help in their defense.

"Don't let them stare at me," she told Whitestar. "Not more than one person, other than you, at a time."

"Okay," said Whitestar. It had been the first thing Taia had said at all since the rescue. They arrived in k'Treva Vale and Whitestar requested – and received – the use of an ekele on the lowest level, as far to the edge of the Veiled region as possible, with as few neighbors as was available. She told her family not to visit, that she would come see them, and no, this was not negotiable. She requested the assistance of only one other Healing Adept, one who was particularly Gifted in bone Healing – and the best Mind Healer k'Treva had available. She was hoping to beg the assistance of her cousin, Firesong k'Treva, who was nearly as powerful a mage as she herself was but twice as creative – but Firesong was on a mission of his own, apparently to help out none other than k'Sheyna Vale. The messenger hummingbird requesting his assistance had arrived only that same morning.

What a small world this was turning out to be.

It was slow progress, Healing Taia. Despite initially agreeing to one other Healer other than Whitestar, it seemed that that agreement was a momentary instance of clarity; more likely, Taia acknowledged intellectually the need for help, but could not tolerate the actual reality of other people seeing her in the shape she was in. She was hardly recognizable as human, much less as herself; but her physical shape was not the main reason. She had been mentally and emotionally destroyed by the brutality and method of the repeated rape and gang rape of Falconsbane and his guards. She couldn't tolerate the thought that anyone – even Whitestar, really, but due to the lifebond there was no keeping her out – could see the shame and humiliation of that experience. And she knew that any MindHealer, in addition to seeing her pain and humiliation, would also see the coercion spells – and what they made her do. Taia just couldn't handle that. She wished she could have; the part of her mind that was still operating rationally knew that Whitestar needed help, that she was an excellent and very powerful Healer but not the best or most experienced MindHealer, and even that the bone Healing was complex enough and extensive enough that she would be best served by having at least one other person besides Whitestar help her. But any time anyone other than Whitestar entered the ekele, she panicked. She couldn't help it. And so Whitestar was forced to stop asking people to try, because there was too much danger that a panic attack could be fatal.

Most of the time, however, Taia was nearly catatonic. When she was awake she stared off into the corner, not looking at anyone or anything. Sera and Ryki tried piteously to get her to respond to them, chirping reassuringly at her and crawling as near to her as they dared; they missed their bondmate. But Taia did not have anything to give them in the way of reassurance. Whitestar was able to get Taia to eat more and more – although soft, almost liquid foods were still the only possibilities, since her jaw was not yet Healed fully enough to chew. Bone Healing was almost as painful as the bone crushing; there were several days where Whitestar had to drug Taia into unconsciousness just to do the Healing with any degree of humanity. The kind of pain she would have had to put Taia through otherwise would have been intolerable, if not inhumane.

There was very little of Taia's flesh that remained unscarred. Healing of the magical variety speeds up the process; it does not change it. Therefore, the scars which would be present with normal healing processes are still created. Having fought as a swordswoman in a multitude of battles, Taia was hardly without scars; however, Falconsbane had left almost nothing untouched. She had lacerations both from the whip and the knife as well as burn scars from the hot poker. She was one solid swollen, painful bruise from the multiple beatings. Her face was a lumpy, purple, lacerated mess; her torso was missing large chunks of skin. Her arms and her legs were useless, swollen purple stubs with large burn marks. It was quite the miracle – maybe a miracle, maybe a curse – that she survived at all, and she would never look the same again.

Whitestar first focused on Healing all of her bones to the point of stability; Taia certainly wasn't making any effort to move, since even if the bones would hold their set the rest of her was in too much pain to do so anyway. This was actually somewhat of a perverse help, since instead of having to heal each bone to completion as quickly as possible, exhausting her own strength and likely not being able to do so very well, Whitestar was able to heal them each to stability and then utilize splints to hold them steady while she worked on the next one. She took meticulous care with each bone, since Taia was a warrior – she needed the use of her hands, her feet, her arms, her legs. Whether or not Taia would ever return to a battle was yet to be seen; however, Whitestar would be damned to the nine hells if the reason was insufficient or inept Healing.

But it soon became obvious that no matter how serious the physical injuries, and no matter how deeply Whitestar felt herself to be not sufficient for the task – not only for lack of experience, either, but because she wasn't sure she could handle seeing Taia's experiences herself – the MindHealing needed to begin. MindHealing was difficult in the best of circumstances; it involved leading the patient through the painful experiences, reliving them to a large degree and processing them. It involved steering the patient's thoughts away from the repetitive, unhelpful thought patterns and leading them towards thought patterns that could begin to rebuild strength. It was exceptionally hard both on the patient and the Healer; the patient, for obvious reasons, but also the Healer, who had to observe the experience and the emotions of the patient while remaining objective enough to direct thoughts and healing in a positive direction.

Whitestar had to do all of that while also being lifebonded to the patient, which meant that she would feel and experience all of Taia's emotions as if she were feeling them herself.

It was exactly this that she had been required to fight during the rescue; she had had to block out Taia's emotions and horror in order to focus first on locating, then on rescuing her lover. It was difficult then – it would be more so now. She was in serious danger of becoming lost in Taia's pain, which would result in both of them going slowly insane.

"I need to at least make someone aware of what I'm doing, so that if I become lost, another member of the Vale can help," she told Taia. Taia nodded; intellectually, she was aware of the danger to both of them, and it was incredibly frustrating to that part of her mind that she could not, she simply could not tolerate another person performing this task.

Whitestar took a moment to Mindspeak her father, who, while not a MindHealer, would be able to recognize that the Healing had gone awry – and send in Whitestar's mother, who was a MindHealer. Whitestar would have gone straight to her mother, but Bluefeather was an emotional and melodramatic woman. A gifted Healer and MindHealer, she would be able to handle the actual event of the Healing gone wrong with skill and professionalism; but the worrying about it, she could not. That task was left to the stoic Hawkwind.

Preparations in place, it was time to begin. Whitestar sat before Taia and placed her hands gently on her lifebonded's temples. Physical contact was certainly not necessary, but given the difficulty of the task Whitestar felt the need for added focus. She carefully grounded and centered herself and then shielded herself with equal care. Her shields had to be just strong enough to protect herself, but not so strong as to prevent her from fully Seeing what she needed to Heal. But before the Healing could even begin, Whitestar needed to break the coercions; part of their design prevented any sort of MindHealing from taking place at all. She calmed Taia enough to convince her to lower her own shields, using part calming and loving reassurance and part projective Empathy. Had Taia been at her own full capability, projective Empathy would never have worked on her since she had an ample Gift herself, plus a strong will behind it; however, had Taia been at her full capabilities, there would have been no need for it in the first place.

She began painstakingly searching Taia's mind for the coercions Falconsbane had left behind. They were cleverly designed; Whitestar had been hoping for simple overlay coercions – the kind that simply laid 'on top' of Taia's existing mind and were easily removed once found. But luck was not on their side; Falconsbane was a powerful mage and well versed in his evil craft. He had instead wound the coercion spells in and around her mind, embedding them into her being, so that removing them involved much more precision work than the simple version Whitestar had hoped for. Removing them took the entire day, and by the end of it Whitestar had accomplished nothing else. Any actual MindHealing would have to wait until the following day; they were both exhausted from her efforts on this one.

And so the following day, instead of proceeding with the Healing of Taia's feet as she had hoped to be able to do – not actually believed she would be able to, but hoped nonetheless – Whitestar again warned her father of the day's plan, this time saying she would instead notify him when the MindHealing was complete, and if he didn't hear from her in a sennight to come and check. She again carefully grounded and centered, and proceeded to meticulously apply the precise level of shielding she would need. She calmed Taia and began the Healing.

And was immediately slammed out of Taia's mind. Apparently, she had not been as successful at removing the spells and coercions as she believed; she had known they were not completely gone, that would take time to complete regardless of her level of skill. But she had not anticipated having been quite this ineffective. So she tried again – and was again slammed quite forcefully from her lifebonded's mind. And that's when it hit her; don't attempt the MindHealing through normal channels of gaining entry to the patient's mind by permission and shields. Go through the lifebond. Falconsbane understood shielding, and could gear his spells to account for it – but he didn't understand a lifebond, and couldn't design a spell to block one out.

So Whitestar ignored the spells designed to block her from Healing Taia and linked with her through the lifebond. It was tough going; she had to fight not only Falconsbane's spells the entire time, but Taia's own fear and shame. The goal today was to work through the fear, shame and pain and move towards rage. Being able to be angry about what had happened, instead of ashamed, was progress towards regaining Taia's personhood. Whitestar was close to losing her sanity – seeing and feeling exactly what Falconsbane had done to her lifebonded, her wife, her soul was nearly unbearable. She was filled with rage, with sadness, for what Falconsbane had done to her and what he had taken from both of them.

By the time she was finished with day one of MindHealing, Taia was sleeping – peacefully, for once, and for the first time since before she was taken. Whitestar herself was nearly despondent with her own grief; however, there was nothing for it. She drank her willowbark tea, ate the dinner she had asked the hertasi to deliver for her – and went to sleep. The next day would bring another day full of pain – and Healing – all its own.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter twenty-two**

Whitestar spent a full sennight on MindHealing before moving on with the bones and flesh. It nearly destroyed both of them to relive the experience in the process of Healing in Taia's case, and seeing and feeling the experience while working on Healing Taia's mind, as well as making progress on eliminating coercions in Whitestar's. By the end of that sennight, there was more MindHealing to be done; but they both needed a respite from mental pain. It was time to move back to physical pain, for bone healing was also a painful process, and needed to be addressed.

Taia was able to move past her anguish enough to speak, now. She even slept occasionally without drugs to induce it – although that sleep was often fitful and she inevitably woke from nightmares. She was able to offer some much-needed affection to Ryki and Sera, and to receive their comfort as well; she was able to look Whitestar in the eye and not withdraw from the lifebond. Her jaw had healed well enough to eat soft breads, fruits and vegetables; she could take some bits of roast meat small enough to not require much chewing. She was still confined to a bed, or a couch if someone carried her there – her feet were nowhere near able to support her weight, and her legs were merely splinted. Bone healing on them had not yet begun; Whitestar had so far focused all her efforts on the more critical skull and torso bones.

Today it was time to start on the hands. If they were left any longer, they might not heal well enough to wield a sword or a bow; and Taia without those abilities was simply not Taia. Bone healing Taia's crushed hands would be excruciating. Whitestar gave Taia as much painkiller as was safe before she started and used her Gift to provide a pain block and then began. She started with the wrists; this was the most intricate area. If the bones were not Healed precisely perfectly, Taia's use of her hands would be significantly hampered. Whitestar had debated whether she should work on one hand and then the other, or if she should do both wrists, then both hands, then both sets of fingers…the thumbs were also complicated, so where should they fit in?

She spent the first day Healing Taia's right wrist and thumb joint. The work was so intricate that by the time she finished with that, she wasn't sure she had the focus necessary to do anything more, so what energy she had left she spent on the larger bones of Taia's arm. She did not Heal them completely; no bone could be Healed completely in a day. But she did Heal them to the point where if she left them to heal naturally from then on, they would do so properly. The second day, she did the same work on Taia's left wrist, thumb and arm. Day three was spent on the right hand and a bit more on the wrist and thumb; day four, the same on the left. Day five, Whitestar Healed the rest of Taia's fingers on the right hand and finished the arm; day six, the left. Day seven, she worked on finishing touches on the hands and Healed both arms.

The following sennight was spent following the same schedule, only on Taia's feet and legs. They had now been at the Vale for a moon, and Taia's bones were Healed enough that if they were left to their own merits they would heal properly on their own in another two moons; however, she had, in fact, married a Healing Adept. There was no need for that. She was able to chew now, especially if the meat was not tough; her nutrition was much improved; therefore the Healing was easier and faster. Whitestar spent at least as much time now on MindHealing as bone, but she was exhausted. She had spent all of her energies for a moon Healing; day after day, hour after hour, not even leaving the ekele.

"You need to get out into the sun," Taia said one day.

"I don't want to leave you," said Whitestar. "You aren't able to walk yet, although we'll begin working on that soon."

"I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about you," said Taia. "You need to get out into the sun. You need a break, or you will exhaust yourself to becoming ill. The horses likely need some exercise too, so why don't you go and spend a day doing that?"

"But that leaves you all alone!" said Whitestar.

"And I don't relish that thought any more than you do, actually. I am afraid to be alone. I am afraid that if I am alone, he will find me. He will work his spells on me again, and I will not be able to stop myself from going to his beckon call. But we both need to face our fears," said Taia. A glimmer of her stubborn refusal to quit was showing itself. Whitestar was torn between being glad of it and being afraid to leave her.

In the end, Taia was right. The horses needed exercising, and the air in the ekele was stale; Whitestar opened up all the windows wide, though, before she left. At least Taia could get some fresh air from the gardens. They had been kept closed, with Whitestar's soundproofing spell to muffle Taia's screams, both from the pain of the Healing – bone and mind – and from the nightmares, but she would be back before nightfall and Taia promised to Fetch them shut if she decided to take a nap. She still woke from a nightmare every time she slept, particularly without the drugs.

Whitestar left the ekele, if somewhat hesitantly. She worried about leaving Taia alone; she knew it was ridiculous to fear Falconsbane coming into the Vale to harm her, but she couldn't help it. She knew the shields of the Vale itself would likely protect from any attempt to magically attack Taia, and if they proved insufficient at least the other mages – including herself – would be aware of such an intrusion. She had no doubt the mages of the Vale would protect Taia from such an attack – and she certainly would. Despite her lingering fear, she knew it was of her own imagination; Taia was safe.

She went out to the fields where the horses were grazing. It was spring – had Taia been at the stronghold as expected, she'd be breeding the next generation. She spent time with each one individually; this was work that they would have shared, and it would have in itself taken all day between the two of them. In those days, they would spend a candlemark with each horse, working through its paces until the horse was – not exhausted, that took a long time for a Shin'a'in mount – but tired. By herself, she knew that wasn't going to be possible, but she wanted to at least spend time with all of them. She started with the horses they had taken on the rescue. She gave them a good brushing and then rode each of them – bareback, she didn't want to take the time for a saddle, even a Shin'a'in one – until they'd worked up to a gallop, then gave them a good rubdown – and on to the next horse. By the time she finished, it was nearly dark. She asked Tyke to ask Sera to help him scout for her, Sera saw better in the dark than Tyke did – she knew this was the territory of her own Vale, but it was not within the Veil, and so if there were an intruder she was vulnerable. She didn't think an intruder was likely, but she was nervous nonetheless; after all, Taia had not felt as if she were in danger when she was taken by Falconsbane, and if Taia could be taken…

She made it back to the Vale proper and thanked the birds. She went to the baths – Goddess that bath felt good, she hadn't had a soak in a moon – and promptly fell asleep. She woke several candlemarks later – and was shocked to find it dark, and the middle of the night. She hurried to dry herself and flung on a robe, taking off at a run towards her ekele –

:It's alright, love: she heard.

:I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to fall asleep!: she answered. She could feel Taia chuckle a little.

:Of course you didn't. But you were exhausted, and I do remember how good those baths feel. Don't worry; I can't go anywhere, so I've been entertaining myself with Farsight all day. When you didn't make it back by dark, I went Looking for you. I'm fine, you're fine. Now stop running, you'll cut your feet on the rocks!: Taia said.

Whitestar did as she was told. She slowed to a walk and entered the ekele to find Taia perfectly safe on the bed, looking a bit ridiculous with all four limbs in splints – It was probably time to start taking those off, at least while she was awake – but safe.

"I think tomorrow we'll take those splints off. It's time to start working on your mobility again, or your muscles will completely atrophy," she said.

"Good," said Taia. "Maybe in a few more days I can join you in that bath, it'd be nice to feel clean again."

"I've been bathing you…..but I know that's not what you mean," said Whitestar. "I don't know how to help you with that."

"I don't know that you can," said Taia. "I don't know that I'll ever feel clean again."

"Maybe not," said Whitestar. "But it will get better. Maybe it would help to talk to one of the members of the troupe who has been through something like this."

"No," said Taia, rather forcefully. "No. I don't want the troupe to know any details of what happened. It is unavoidable that they will know anything happened at all, but details – I can't handle that. It's too much."

"Ok," said Whitestar. "I don't think I can help any more than I have with MindHealing, either. Maybe someone with more experience with it….."

"No," said Taia. "It will get better. It will never be gone. I'm never going to be the person I was before…..this. But I don't want anyone else in my head."

"Ok," said Whitestar. "How about tomorrow evening after most of the rest of the Vale is asleep, and the baths are empty – can you Fetch yourself into one?"

Taia's eyes brightened. "I do believe I can," she said. "And I am most looking forward to it."

"Good," said Whitestar. "Then tomorrow I will spend the day Healing some of the flesh wounds, so that they will not be painful in the hot water."

"Wonderful. Then maybe I won't look like the hideous monster I do now," said Taia.

"You don't look like a monster," said Whitestar. "You look like a person who has been through something incredibly horrendous and lived to tell the tale. You look like a person who is stronger than the horrible thing that tried to kill her. You look like the bravest and strongest person I've ever known."

Taia smiled, but sadly. If only she felt strong. If only she felt brave. She just felt weak. And dirty. She hoped the bath would at least help.

The bath did, in fact help. Taia scrubbed herself raw – or at least as raw as her brand new skin, with its still-healing wounds and fresh scar tissue, could handle. She still felt dirty; but she knew that was a feeling coming from inside, not an actual reflection that she in fact was dirty. She hoped the feeling would fade; she didn't want to feel that way anymore. It was not a pleasant feeling, to feel the filth of the guards, and particularly Falconsbane, all the time and not be able to be rid of it.

The day after that glorious bath, Brandi visited. It was nice to see her; Taia was a little uncomfortable, though. She hadn't seen anyone other than Whitestar since the rescue, and it was difficult for her to be with others, even Brandi. Perhaps particularly Brandi; she wasn't used to people having seen her beaten and broken, and it was a hard thing for her to face anyone who had seen her that way. Would Brandi think less of her? Would she resent having had to come and rescue her – again – and risk her life doing so? Taia wasn't sure.

"Well hello, little sister," said Brandi. "How are you doing?"

"Hello," said Taia. "I'm…..recovering, I suppose. Thank you for rescuing me, and thank Jacqui and Kiri for me as well please?"

"Little sister, you never have to thank me for that. Or Jacqui, or Kiri, for that matter. You're my sister, our family, and we love you. We know if we needed your help you'd be there. It's what families do," said Brandi.

"You must think I'm pathetic," said Taia. "I seem to need a lot of rescuing – first from our mother, and then Falconsbane…and the…..way I was when you found me…"

"How could I possibly find you pathetic?" said Brandi. "I never found you pathetic. I am in awe of you, that you survived the treatment of our birth Clan and don't even feel the need to burn it up with one of those fireballs you throw. I am in awe that you are such a tremendous warrior and leader to your troupe – a troupe with the best reputation in all the mercenary Guild, I might add. And I am in awe of the courage and strength you showed to survive what that monster did to you, and you even assisted in your own rescue. No, little sister, you are not pathetic. You are amazing."

Taia began to cry. Then she began to sob. And Whitestar began to relax – this was the first time Taia had cried over what had happened – and as much as Whitestar hated seeing her cry, it was a huge step towards healing. Brandi went and held her sister while Taia spent herself in her tears – and Whitestar left them to comfort each other, while she went to the fields and spent the day exercising the horses. Afterwards, they all met back at the ekele for dinner and then to the baths. Brandi was shocked for a moment at the extent of the scarring to Taia's body but recovered well – not well enough that Taia didn't notice, though.

"I'm really scarred up, aren't I?" she said.

"You earned every last one of them," said Brandi. "By which I mean, you survived. That's the only part that matters; the scars are just a reminder that you're stronger than he is."

"Exactly what I told her," said Whitestar.

"Even so," said Taia. And with that, the scars disappeared, and in their place was the Taia that existed before Falconsbane had left his mark – or marks. Some scars remained, but only the ones she had had before. "I think maybe I'll heal faster if I look like myself. I maintained an illusion of my appearance before to cover the white hair and pale eyes; I can maintain an illusion now to cover that and the scars as well. Don't want to scare the children, after all."

"I didn't even know you had white hair until we saw you…..there," said Brandi. "Why? Do you age prematurely or something?"

"No," said Whitestar. "I have white hair, too, without the illusion. It's the magic – it bleaches our hair and our skin. Yours did, too, when you were here for the first year Taia was here – you just never noticed, because it didn't bleach quickly and it grew out after you left. That's why everyone thinks the Tale'edras all look the same – we all have the same bleached white hair."

"Your brother doesn't," said Brandi.

"The scouts usually dye their hair to better blend in with the trees," said Whitestar.

"Ah, well that explains it. Smart, too – white hair would sure make it hard to sneak up on anyone!" said Brandi.

"That it would," smiled Whitestar.

They chatted for awhile longer, and then Taia started yawning. They decided to call it a day and go to bed. Taia Fetched herself back to her bed; her mobility was improving, but not her ability to bear weight. That would be awhile yet.

"Taia, I don't want you to be ashamed of your scars," said Whitestar as she entered the ekele.

"Whitestar, I am ashamed of so much more than just my scars," said Taia. "I am ashamed that I was taken at all – I am a warrior, I am the Captain of a highly reputable mercenary troupe, and I am a powerful Adept-class mage. The fact that I was captured is embarrassing at best. I am ashamed that I was made to be a whore for an entire guard contingent, and made to beg for my captor's attentions. I am ashamed that I had to be rescued. I am ashamed of the way I looked when you found me, and my helplessness during the entire trip back. I am ashamed that it is taking me so long to recover. My scars are the least of it, but they are the one thing I have control over – I don't have to look at them. I don't have to see the looks on people's faces when they see them, and I don't have to answer their questions about where they came from. I'm going to keep the illusion, ok?"

"If it helps, I'm fine with your keeping the illusion. I just wish there was something I could do to help you see yourself the way the rest of us do," said Whitestar.

"I know, and I wish I could get past feeling ashamed myself, believe me. It's not fun. But I think it's something I'm going to carry with me the rest of my life; I think it will fade, with time of course, but I don't think it will ever be gone," said Taia.

"You're probably right," said Whitestar. "I wish I could stomp on Falconsbane's face. It's not healthy to wish I could repay him – appropriately – but I wish I could, all the same."

Taia couldn't help but agree. They slept through the night – and for the first time, Taia didn't have a nightmare. Brandi stayed for a sennight, and by the time she left Taia was starting to sit a horse again – not to do anything more than walk, but she could sit on a horse. It was a great triumph for her. She had to Fetch herself onto the horse's back, because Whitestar didn't think her feet were up to supporting her weight yet, but it was one step towards getting her muscles back, getting her flexibility back, and if nothing else – getting a bit of freedom back.

Another sennight passed. Taia was able to use her hands, a little; not for anything complex, but she could pick up something lightweight and she could extend her arm to reach for something. It had been almost three moons since they had returned to the Vale; Whitestar was thinking that in another sennight, they would start Taia on a therapy regimen to get used to walking again. Taia was still working through her emotional pain, but she was making a lot of progress; she was able to share small bits of affection with Whitestar again without panicking. In the beginning, any physical touch – even though it wasn't intended as anything other than for Healing purposes – made her flinch. But she had progressed to the point that she could tolerate a kiss here, a caress there, and as long as it wasn't too tight, even a hug.

One evening, it had progressed past a mere kiss and caress – they had, after all, never been chaste for any length of time, and as a lifebonded couple a large part of their connection was maintained physically. Whitestar sat on the bed next to Taia, kissing her ever so gently, touching her with exquisite tenderness so as not to send Taia panicking, checking in through the lifebond to make sure it wasn't too much or too fast. Taia was participating, nervous, a little scared – but she didn't want to stop. She missed Whitestar's touch, too, as much as it made her nervous to have someone touch her like…this…..again. Everything was going just beautifully, until Whitestar reached to stroke between Taia's legs –

"GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS AWAY FROM ME YOU DAMNED WHORE!"

Falconsbane had left one coercion that Whitestar had not found. Until now.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter twenty-three**

"Wha – what was that?" asked Taia. "I didn't just…..say that, did I?"

"You did, but it was due to Falconsbane's damned coercions," said Whitestar. "Damn him to the nine hells! It's bad enough that he took you, and used you, and put coercions on you at all, but now there's one to keep you from coming back to me, too? No! No, I will not have it! I am going to fix this damn coercion, and I am going to fix it right now!"

Taia concurred, and with that, Whitestar placed her hands determinedly on each side of Taia's head. She ruthlessly hunted down every last strand of this coercion that had managed to go undetected and destroyed them. In a very small corner of her mind, she ironically admired the work; there was no way she – or anyone else – would have been able to locate this particular coercion until it showed itself. It was very unlikely that anyone other than herself would have been able to destroy it – whoever tried would have to have intimate access to Taia's mind, and Taia would have to be in complete cooperation, which she was unlikely to be for anyone other than Whitestar. It was difficult work – but she was successful. All traces of that particular coercion were eliminated. Whitestar spent another candlemark or so rooting around looking for any other trace of a coercion that she might have missed, but didn't find any. She kicked herself, mentally and hard, for missing this one.

By the time she was done, both women were exhausted.

"Is it….gone? For good this time?" Taia asked.

Whitestar felt a pang of guilt, and then realized Taia didn't mean it as reproach, but out of fear. "Yes," she answered. "He has no further hold on you. He never will."

They fell asleep together, Whitestar's arms around Taia. They slept soundly until morning, when the sunlight woke them.

"Good morning, lovey," said Whitestar.

"Good morning, dearheart," said Taia.

Whitestar kissed Taia, gently, slowly. Taia kissed back; soon they were picking up where they left off, only this time without the interruption of Falconsbane's coercion. It was bittersweet; it didn't feel quite the same as before Falconsbane had taken Taia, but neither of them could really put their finger on what, exactly, was different. It just was. But it was still good, and they were still made whole in their joining with each other. Afterwards, they went down to the baths for a good long soak; Taia Fetched herself, as she was getting used to doing now. She was able to walk around the ekele a bit, but stairs were too difficult just yet.

"I think we're going to work on your mobility today," said Whitestar. "I've Healed you as much as I can; what's left is to rebuild your muscles and your flexibility, and that's just going to take time and hard work."

"I can't say as I'm looking forward to it," said Taia. "I've seen people try to recover flexibility from serious injuries; it looks quite painful."

"It will be," said Whitestar. "I can give you a pain block afterwards, but during the work I think it would be best to keep the pain block off because we want the warning that you're pushing too hard, and we won't get it if you don't feel it."

"That's true, as much as I hate to admit it," said Taia. "Okay, what exactly did you have in mind?"

"Stretching, mostly. I think maybe we'll have you go through some of your easier sword dances, only without the swords. That will get your muscles and joints moving, but without any extra weight. You should regain your full range of motion in a sennight or so," said Whitestar.

"That sounds – deceptively simple. Alright. Let's get some breakfast and get to it – think I can walk to the kitchens? I'm getting a little tired of the ekele. I'm still nervous about being around too many people, but I've got to get past that eventually, right?" said Taia.

"I think we can try it. If you don't make it, you can always Fetch yourself the rest of the way," said Whitestar.

Taia did make it, although she was gritting her teeth by the time they arrived. Whitestar assured her that the effort at least wouldn't do any damage; Taia had some fear that despite being Healed, her feet would crumble under too much stress. They had a hearty breakfast, and Taia drank some willowbark tea; she couldn't have a pain block, but she could take some medication to reduce the inflammation the days' activities were likely to bring. They made it over to a small clearing, where Taia worked through the simplest of her sword dances. It was one of the first ones taught to Shin'a'in children, mostly taught as a kind of game – the way all things are taught to children in the beginning. It was hard, and her joints were extremely stiff; they had been held mostly immobile for going on two moons. But she made it through that one, and decided to move on to the next one. It was slightly more complex, but she and Whitestar felt that since her muscles were already warmed up from the first one, it would be beneficial to push just a little. Both of them, now that her bones were healed enough to use, wanted to recover her strength and flexibility as quickly as was safe.

When they decided to call it enough, Taia was sore all over, but happy. She felt she had made real progress, and was at least on her way to not being an invalid. They went back to the kitchen and ate some lunch; afterwards, they decided a short ride on the horses was called for, as long as it was just a walk and nothing faster. Definitely no trotting! They spent a few candlemarks just ambling around on the horses, not having any destination in mind, just letting Taia's muscles and joints readjust to sitting a horse again. When they were finished, Whitestar gave both horses a good rubdown and they returned to the kitchens for dinner. Another soak in the baths and it was time for bed – it had been a big day for Taia. For two moons she had barely left her bed; she had spent the entire day out of it instead. Whitestar gave her a pain block to sleep, and they both slept through the night, again curled up next to each other. Taia was regaining her old self, one bit at a time – but she was determined to regain as much as she could of what Falconsbane had taken.

The next morning they had a surprise. Greyhawk came to their ekele and said there was someone to see Taia.

"Brandi came back already?" Taia asked.

"No, it's not your sister, they would have just let her in," said Whitestar.

"Good point. Kiri? Jacqui?" Taia wondered aloud.

"No," said Greyhawk. "She comes riding a white spirit-horse."

Taia was dumbfounded. Who could this be? And how would she even know where Taia was?

"Show her up, I suppose," said Taia, confused. But anyone riding a white spirit-horse – a Companion – could be trusted.

A few seconds later, it was none other than Kerowyn entering their ekele.

"Well, you Tale'edras sure live in luxury," she said. "Hello, cousin. You, my friend, are a difficult one to find. I went to your stronghold first, expecting to find you recovering from a busy season only to find out you had never made it back after our little spat with Ancar. I went to Kata'shin'a'in, and found out from your sister – Kiri says hello, by the way, and she hopes you are doing well – that you were here. She seemed a little guarded as to the reason, but if I had the opportunity to live in a place like this I don't know why anyone would question it!"

Taia was silent. She knew Kerowyn had no idea the real reason she was here – and she wasn't sure she wanted to share it. But she couldn't go on letting Kerowyn believe it was just luxury, either.

"I was kidnapped on my way back to the stronghold," she said. "I stopped to visit my other sister, Brandi, so that she would know that I had survived Ancar and she didn't need to go and claim my herd. After I left there, I was kidnapped by a mage named M-mornelith Falconsbane, who spent a moon torturing me, him and his guards. My bones were all broken, and I have been here recovering ever since."

"Oh," said Kerowyn, looking rather shocked. "I am so sorry, I seem to have put my foot in it. And here I was on behalf of the Crown, going to ask your help in defeating just that mage, having no idea…"

"You couldn't have known," said Taia. "No one does. We sent a messenger to the stronghold that I was seriously injured in an accident and would return when I was recuperated, but not…..the nature of the injury. But I don't think I am up to helping you defeat him. I…..even if I were physically strong enough to travel, I…..cannot face him. I can't. Please don't ask me to."

There was something haunted in Taia's voice, and even if Kerowyn were going to beg her to find a way to come back to Valdemar and help them – something stopped her after that. She got the faraway look in her eye that let Taia know she was Mindspeaking Sayvil, and Kerowyn's face went white – then red, then white again – and Taia knew Sayvil was giving Kerowyn the details of what had befallen her. Which made her livid.

:I'll have you not disclose my very personal business, horse: she said into Sayvil's mind, paying no attention to Sayvil's indignation that Taia had the nerve to bespeak her. :It is not your story to share, and I don't know why you even know it. Spirit-horse or no, if you do not mind your business I will teach you which of us is stronger.:

Sayvil was clearly shocked by Taia's boldness, but being a Companion, wasn't going to let her reproach go without comment. :I thought it would be helpful for the Crown to know exactly WHY you were unable to be of help. Perhaps….it was not as necessary as I believed.: which was as close to an apology as a Companion was ever going to give. Taia made no reply.

"I could, perhaps, give you some advice so that you were yourselves able to take him on," she suggested, ignoring the conversations that had just taken place.

"I…we would be grateful," said Kerowyn. "I'm sorry to have to ask, I had no idea."

"Like I said, you couldn't have," said Taia. "Now. Why don't you tell me what you know, and we'll come up with a plan."

Kerowyn explained that according to Elspeth, after Falconsbane was supposedly killed by the Kal'enedral – Taia hadn't been willing to accept his death without seeing a corpse, and it turned out she was right – he was then killed in an elaborate scheme by Elspeth, a k'Sheyna mage named Darkwind, another Herald named Skif and – Nyara. Falconsbane's daughter. Taia remembered her.

"So that was her name," she said. "I saw her, sometimes. He…practiced on her, his body modifications, and she…..was similarly treated as I."

"So it would seem from what she's said," said Kerowyn.

"I am surprised she was able to participate in the attack," said Taia. "She must have had some powerful magic undoing his….work."

"My sword, actually," said Kerowyn. "Remember my sword? It was enchanted. Protects a swordbearer from magic of all kinds, makes a mage a master swordswoman, and Heals any but a fatal wound. Only works for women, though. It spoke for Nyara, and that's how she was able to overcome some of what Falconsbane did to her."

"Ah," said Taia. "So if Falconsbane was killed, why are you still coming to me for help with him?"

"Apparently, he got trapped in the place between Gates," said Kerowyn. "I have no idea what that means. It's just what Firesong has explained."

"Firesong?" said Whitestar. "You're working with Firesong?"

"You know him?" said Kerowyn.

"He's my cousin," said Whitestar. "We are both descended from one Vanyel Ashkevron, whom I believe you've heard of, although we are actually cousins – my mother is his father's sister."

"What a small world this is," said Kerowyn. "Firesong and Darkwind came north to Valdemar, along with Nyara – and some gryphons, even a kyree, to be ambassadors and mage instructors to Valdemar's mages – the mage barrier is down, and we are now training Herald Mages again. Which is a good thing; Falconsbane is back. He survived in that place between Gates, and was brought out by Ancar himself. Again, I don't really understand what that means, but he now threatens Valdemar. And we don't know how to kill him. This time, his actual physical body was trapped; apparently, he has a way to 'store' his spirit there, and take over the body of a descendant of his. He is, apparently, the reincarnation of Ma'ar."

Whitestar paled. Taia went very still. If he couldn't be killed, then…..she would never be safe. He could come and retake her at any time. She may as well call a Final Strike on him now; it's not like she would survive a second round with him. She barely survived the first, and she wasn't sure that all of her had. She was an exceptionally powerful mage as well as an extraordinarily gifted swordswoman – if she could be captured once, she could be captured again. But…..surely, there was a way. Surely there must be a way.

"I don't have any ideas, but if you'd be willing to avail yourself of the Vale's hospitality for a day or two, we might be able to think of something," said Taia.

"I sincerely hope you do," said Kerowyn. "Valdemar depends on you. Again."

"No pressure, though, of course," Taia said wryly.

"None at all," said Kerowyn, equally wry.

Whitestar showed Kerowyn to the guest quarters within the Vale, the same ones Brandi had occupied when Taia had first arrived so many years ago, when they were still children.

"I have to say, I am not at all happy you're here," said Whitestar.

"I would imagine not," said Kerowyn. "I would like to say that if I had known, I would not have come. But….."

"You would be lying," said Whitestar. "Regardless of how much I want to pack Taia up and run as far away from Falconsbane as possible, never expose her to the fact of his existence ever again – he needs defeating. And you need her insight to do it. But I will not, you hear me – I will not allow her to attack him herself. She's not ready. I can't take her and run – but I will not allow you to try to make her do something she's not ready for."

"I wouldn't expect you to," said Kerowyn. "I can see for myself she's nowhere near able to confront him herself right now; but if we tried to protect her by pretending she didn't have the insight we need, perhaps we would be betraying her in a different way."

"She never ran from a fight a day in her life," said Whitestar. "She would see abandoning this fight to people less capable than she is as a dereliction of her duty to the Goddess. I only hope she doesn't decide to go riding off to Valdemar to fight him herself."

"I think that if we work together, we can devise a strategy that mages already in Valdemar can handle," said Kerowyn. "We might even be able to convince her it's her own idea."

"As long as we understand each other," said Whitestar.

"Quite," said Kerowyn. "Goodnight, Whitestar. I would never intentionally cause you or Taia pain."

"I know," said Whitestar. "Taia cares for you quite a bit, and trusts you. So I do, as well. Goodnight, Kerowyn."

They went their separate ways. Whitestar took her time walking back to the ekele; she had some thinking to do. How much help could they really be? Taia might have the mage power to defeat Falconsbane, particularly when Whitestar added her own strength; but she did not, at the moment, possess the emotional strength. Facing him directly after the ordeal he had put her through might be enough to snap the fragile hold she had on sanity. Whitestar was aware of Taia's incredible strength – but she was under no illusion that Taia was unbreakable. She had broken once already, and the second time would be easier. Or was she just being overprotective? That was also a possibility, she had to admit. There was also no way Taia could handle the strain of a cross-country ride on horseback to get to Valdemar in the first place – but that was immaterial, they could Gate there. They had been to Valdemar before.

In the end, Taia made the decision for them both – there was no way she felt up to facing Falconsbane in person, at the very least not unless there was really no other possibility. She thought that it was at least worth spending a day or two looking for a strategy that would allow the existing folk in Valdemar to defeat Falconsbane, and only if they could not devise a plan that seemed at least feasible would she consider making the journey.

The next morning they all gathered at the ekele.

"The Kal'enedral came close to killing him with their arrows," said Whitestar. "Close enough that Kiri thought they had."

"But they didn't," said Taia. "I think it's fair to say that a purely physical attack will be unsuccessful. We need both – magical and physical. Physical to kill the body, but magical to kill the spirit. We have to prevent his spirit from surviving to reincarnate again."

"But how?" said Kerowyn. "He's been doing this for hundreds of years; he knows when he's about to die and he takes his spirit to – wherever it goes. How do we keep him from doing that?"

"I have an idea," said Whitestar. "Actually, it's not my idea. I wish I could talk to Firesong, but he's an intelligent fellow. He should be able to figure out how to do what I'm thinking. This place where Falconsbane's spirit goes, you say it's in the space between Gates, right?"

"Right," said Kerowyn. "But I have no idea what that means, so it's not something – "

"You don't have to understand. I can explain it to you if you like, but for our current purposes….it's not necessary. Firesong - he's been experimenting with different ways to use magic – he's almost as powerful as I am, or Taia, but more creative than either one of us. Largely because he hasn't spent any of his time swinging a sword, but instead all of it playing around and experimenting with magic. Anyway. One of his experiments - oh, it doesn't matter. But he's been playing around with the energy void that is the space between Gates. So here is my thought. You have to kill the body. But you also have to kill the spirit, and before it gets to – wherever it goes in that Void. The timing has to be just right," said Whitestar.

"I….am not sure I follow," said Kerowyn.

"Somehow, you have to have someone kill his physical body, and at the same moment, Firesong has to chase his spirit into that Void and destroy it. Firesong is the only one who can do it; none of the rest of us are familiar enough with the Void. I mean, maybe one of us could – but I really think Firesong is the best option for this particular task," said Whitestar.

"Okay…..if I tell Firesong this, to chase the spirit into the Void and destroy it at the moment of physical death – will he understand what that means? Because I don't," asked Kerowyn.

"Yes, yes, he'll understand. The problem is how to get close enough to the physical body to kill him, without getting captured. He'll have to be lured somehow," said Whitestar.

"Nyara," said Taia. "You said Nyara was with you, yes?"

"Yes," said Kerowyn. "She came to Valdemar as Skif's lady."

Taia was surprised by that, but for the moment it was unimportant.

"You said she attacked him twice before, right? Once at k'Sheyna, once in his stronghold?" asked Taia.

"Yes," said Kerowyn. "I hear the first was in defense of Skif – they're quite taken with each other – and the second, she was working as part of a team. That time she had my sword. Her sword, now."

"That has got to gall him to no end," said Taia. "He hates when his…..toys...escape, and to have one attack him – his own daughter no less – would be something he couldn't tolerate. She's the key. She can lure him out of his castle."

"How?" asked Kerowyn.

"Anything that might get the attention of the town," said Taia. "He'll hear of it. He won't be able to resist. He'll come out of the castle – away from his walls, away from the servants, away from the traps he has set to detect intruders – and he'll be vulnerable. That will be your chance."

"Okay," said Kerowyn. "Anything else you can think of?"

"No," said Taia. "We will Gate you back to Valdemar in the morning, if you'd like. If something occurs to me after that, my Mindspeech is strong enough I can reach you. For today, let's go enjoy some dinner and introduce you to some Tale'edras baths."


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter twenty-four**

Kerowyn thoroughly enjoyed the baths, as Taia and Whitestar knew she would. They spent the evening talking about everything that had happened to Valdemar since the war with Ancar and any other news Taia had missed out on. Kerowyn admitted to being exceptionally happy to have been granted the opportunity to stay in Valdemar – and with Eldan. She was enjoying her new life as Weaponsmaster to a bunch of Herald-trainees and guard-trainees – Blues, they were called, for their blue uniforms – instead of traipsing all over the countryside fighting someone else's wars but risking her own skin.

"Wait, your Mindspeech is really strong enough to reach me all the way in Valdemar?!" she asked Taia at one point.

"Yep," said Taia. "It's one of my strongest Gifts. I can bespeak anyone I choose, with or without the Gift, and I have quite a large range. Haven is about my limit, but I can reach it. I couldn't, though, if you weren't Gifted – it takes more effort to bespeak someone without the Gift."

"I imagine it makes commanding your troops a lot easier – no messages to relay," said Kerowyn.

"I've only used it for that a few times, actually," said Taia. "It takes a lot of energy, and so if I spend my energy doing that – I don't have it for more critical things later. So when I can use regular messengers, I do. you never know when you're going to need that energy later for something important; if you've spent it on something non-critical, well, you might end up killing your whole army."

"I suppose that's true," said Kerowyn. "Sure would be nice, though."

The next morning, Taia built the Gate to send Kerowyn and her Companion back to Valdemar. It was good to feel useful again. Gates required entirely personal energy from the person building them; however, since Taia was lifebonded to Whitestar, they were able to share energy to build a Gate. And because of the particular nature of the Heartstone, they were able to recuperate their energy rapidly.

"How soon do you think I'll be able to return to the stronghold?" Taia asked Whitestar.

"Are you sure you want to?" asked Whitestar.

"No," said Taia. "But I don't want to stay here. I want to try and regain my life. I don't know if I can handle being back in the troupe, but I want to give it a shot."

"Well," said Whitestar, "I think it's going to be some time before you can fight on the field again. But there's no reason you can't be a full-time member of the mage corps. And I think if you agree to take it slow, and go at the pace I say is safe – we can leave in a sennight."

"I think I can handle that," said Taia.

And so for the next sennight, Taia intensified her rehabilitation as much as Whitestar would let her. She spent as much time riding as she could and had started doing her sword dances with actual swords, and even working against some pells to increase her strength and tolerance of impact and resistance. By the time they were ready to leave, her flexibility was back to normal; as for her strength and endurance, well, that would have to be determined in battle.

They said their goodbyes in person this time; they weren't children anymore, and this wasn't home. It was respite, it was a place to heal without interruption or responsibility – but it wasn't home. They were surrounded by family here, and familiar faces, but no one they could really talk to about their experiences, no one to laugh together around a firepit, no one to have any idea what their lives were actually like. They loved the Vale, loved their family, but it wasn't home. They would miss it, of course, but it was time to go. So they loaded up their belongings on their horses. Taia mounted Ishim while Whitestar rode Tika and they left at mid-morning after their farewells.

They didn't make it more than a few candlemarks before Taia had to stop and rest. They camped for the night despite the fact that it was only a few candlemarks after midday. Taia was disappointed; some Shin'a'in she was, couldn't even sit a horse for more than a few candlemarks. But her muscles weren't used to it anymore. So she spent the evening working on her sword exercises, throwing knives, bow, even shortswords. She was absolutely determined to regain everything she had lost. She went hunting with the bondbirds. She did everything her still-recovering body would allow her to do. When she finally sat down, the sun had too, and so they sat around the fire roasting the venison that the birds – and Taia – had brought down that day. There would be plenty of extra meat, but they were short on hides since they hadn't done any hunting lately. So they roasted as much of the meat as they could and then wrapped it in the hide to stay clean; when they hit the next town, they would purchase some salt to preserve it.

The trip that under normal circumstances took a moon took two. They didn't push the pace at all; they didn't have a deadline, of course, largely because the troupe didn't know they were coming and they wanted to miss the main fighting season. Taia was nowhere near able to take on a full mercenary fighting season even if she did so as a mage and not a fighter, and it was not even midsummer yet. They weren't even sure they'd go out this season at all, but they still wanted to get back to their little hut. They arrived just past midsummer, having had a few tests of Taia's fighting ability with a few bandit attacks. Her skills were back up to normal, but her endurance was not. That would come.

They arrived at the stronghold – only to find, unsurprisingly, that the troupe was out on campaign. Taia and Whitestar set about making repairs to their hut, tanning the hides they had collected, storing the meat they had cured. They spent some time reuniting with the herd that had been left behind when they went to Valdemar; There were two foals from the horses bred the previous season, a colt and a filly; Zere and Cayen, who had been bred to Brandi's stallion prior to Taia's captivity, were the proud mothers of a pair of colts that had made the journey with them. It was strange, being at the stronghold during fighting season while everyone else was out fighting. They enjoyed being home, though; they looked forward to surprising the troupe when they did return from the season.

And return they did, in the late autumn; by the time they did, Taia had recovered her endurance, at least as far as horseback riding. The swordfighting was improving, but a true test could only be had in battle – which, as the season was over, she was not likely to have until next spring. It was an early end to the season, though – the snow had not yet begun to fall. The Fire Eagles had regained some of their lost number since the war with Ancar; they were at half strength at the end of that campaign, and now they were slightly more than two-thirds. But Milna, who had taken over the command in Taia's absence, had decided to call an early end to the season in order to hopefully be back up to full strength by the following one. Taia was in full agreement; however, it was no longer hers to decide. Whether or not the Fire Eagles still wanted to have her as Captain, after a successful season with Milna at the helm, was yet to be seen.

"Taia! Whitestar!" exclaimed Milna upon seeing them. "We certainly didn't expect to find you here, welcome back!"

"I didna' think to ever see you again," said Jexon, "although I be happy to do the seein'."

"We're happy to be back," said Whitestar. Taia was finding herself surprisingly shy and tongue-tied.

"It's been a long time," said Miljek. "How've you been? What happened?"

"I'd um….I'd rather not get into details, if you don't mind," said Taia. "Let's just say….I was caught off guard and held prisoner for awhile and sustained some very serious injuries. But I'm recovered, and would like to rejoin the troupe."

"Do…..you want your Captaincy back?" asked Milna.

"I don't want to insist," said Taia. "If the troupe wants me, I'll take the post. If not, I'm happy to serve under you in whatever capacity you see fit."

"Very well," said Miljek. "I suggest that for the time being, Milna and Taia serve as co-captains. After we get a feel for where she's at, we can decide whether to keep Milna or Taia as Captain by vote."

"Very well, that sounds fair," said Milna. "You all know I wasn't sure about taking this position anyway, I wouldn't be too sorry to give it up – but only if that's what the troupe decides."

"I agree to those terms, and I find them quite generous," said Taia. "You should know that should we take any additional campaigns this season, I am likely to serve primarily as a mage, and not on the battlefield, and therefore Whitestar with me. Whitestar isn't sure how my joints will hold up under a full battle just yet."

"Those musta' been some bad injuries, ta keep the sword from yer hand," said Jexon.

"I…had all of my bones broken. Crushed, really. They are whole again, but not as strong yet as they should be," said Taia.

"I'd say that qualifies as severe," said Bluok, who had just walked up to the group. "Welcome back, Taia, Whitestar. It is good to see you again."

"It is good to be back," said Taia. "I've missed you all."

And she had. And they had missed her. It was good to be home, with her family.

They did choose to take on a couple of short, nearby campaigns that fall. Taia and Whitestar spent most days with the mage corps, and found that Taia could handle about every third day on the field. She hoped that by the next season, she would be back to normal – at least as far as her fighting ability went. She wasn't sure she would ever feel "normal" again, but she was getting a lot closer. She and Milna worked well together as co-captains, and decided that rather than either of them taking a demotion they would continue to work that way for the upcoming season; they promoted Ilken to the spot Milna had served in before Taia's absence.

Over the winter, Taia continued to build up her strength and endurance until she thought she might have actually surpassed her previous level of conditioning. She also worked on training the horses; there was quite a bit of work to do. The second round of foals, now adults, had been trained to saddle but not to fight; and since they had been gone for so long, they needed a lot of retraining. The third round had not been trained at all, and needed to be brought along as quickly as possible. Taia was hoping to breed all the mares next spring, and ride only stallions into battle the following season. The two colts from the second round, Ikien and Pieki, should be up to speed by the time it was time to begin the season, so she focused largely on their training. She trained them largely with the plan that Whitestar would be riding both of them – she had been riding Ishim and Kyesh for so long she wasn't sure either she or they would adapt well to a new rider. Next winter, she would have to work on a replacement for Ishim; it would be good to retire him to field. He wasn't old – but seasons spent in battle were hard on horses as well as people, and so it would be good to give him a well-earned rest. Next winter, she would focus on the training of the colts from round three.

The following season went much like the end of the last; it was a good thing Taia had planned on retiring Ishim, since he, like Myk, finished the season with a permanent injury that would not cause him any distress but would leave him unfit for th battlefield. Considering that she had yet to lose a horse – other than Jys – in battle, she thought she was doing fairly well to end up with two perfectly good studs who could be ridden occasionally if needed and a large pool of mares. So she spent the next off-season focusing on training the three colts from round three – Tinik, Ryev and Syrx – she wanted all three of them battle-ready by spring. Only one of them would be taken on campaign, but she wanted to have more availability of trained horses back at camp should one fall in battle, rather than having to use the second-best option of a mare with a new-weaned foal. Besides, eventually, all of them needed training. She had ten new foals born that season – 7 fillies, three colts – this gave her a healthy herd of 28 horses. She was actually getting to the point where she could legitimately start considering gelding some and selling them at the horse market. One more breeding season and she likely would. Ishim, Myk and now Kyesh had fathered most of them – she had to be careful not to breed Kyesh to any horse fathered by Ishim, since Ishim was his father – but next season, she could start using Ikien and Pieki to stud as well. Her herd was downright respectable.

She was also back to her own full strength and fighting ability on the field; she and Whitestar still took their days with the mage corps, but not because Taia wasn't fit. She had, however, discovered that much to her dismay, the weather made a significant impact on her now-arthritic joints. They had to invest more of their magic energy in keeping their tent warm at night when on campaign and their hut warm at home; they also made more of an effort to hunt more wolves and bears in order to make warmer cloaks and blankets for Taia. Her best winter cloak was made of wolf skins lined with rabbit fur and stuffed with feathers; she also had a blanket made with bear skin instead of wolf, but otherwise the same. They took along extras to serve as padding, likewise stuffed with both feathers and additional furs, so that sleeping on the ground would not be so difficult. It helped – but she still woke every winter morning with a great deal of stiffness that needed to be worked out slowly. No more could she jump from her bed straight into battle regardless of weather; in the summer she could, unless it was raining, but otherwise – she needed a candlemark before her joints would move freely. Whitestar could block some of the pain and help with the worst of the inflammation, but she could not altogether get rid of the arthritis itself.

She considered retiring from the battlefield but remaining with the troupe as a mage, but over the course of the last few years there were strange phenomena that people were calling the mage storms; apparently, all the magic released from Urtho and Ma'ar's deaths during the mage wars was coming back in waves. It was causing terrible storms and weather – making Taia's joint problems significantly worse – and rearranging the landscape in strange change-circles, transplanting pieces of land from one place to another, and "changing" any animal – or the occasional unfortunate human – into…..something else. Most of these things had to be killed outright; the ones that were animal with intelligence were often crazed and bloodthirsty, while the few that had once been human…..well, that would have been torture to keep it alive. Luckily, they were able to get the pattern of what pieces of land were likely to be transplanted, as well as predictions of when the storms would occur, so that they could make sure they were bedded down and out of harm's way. Taia had maintained communication with Kerowyn, who kept her appraised of any information pertinent to their position.

It took a year before the problem was solved, apparently by some rather dangerous and difficult mage work at Urtho's stronghold itself. She heard that there had been some injuries, some significant – but the storms were over. This had some significant effects, among them the fact that there were no nodes anymore. There was still magical energy, to be sure, but nothing concentrated; it was all dispersed into sort of a mist, which made it much more difficult to perform any spell that required more than a mage's personal supply of energy. Taia and Whitestar both possessed a considerable amount of that, but it was difficult to work in the mage corps every day; not even the regular mages could anymore, they had to take every third day off to recharge. Taia and Whitestar could, of course, take mage positions with days off – but it rankled on both of them to have to do so, particularly Taia as captain.

Taia also heard that they were using magic on the Plains again. She wasn't sure how she felt about that; the thing that had caused her banishment, her mage gift, and so much rejection by her Clan – was just accepted as now a part of everyday life, like nothing had ever happened. And the teacher for the new Shin'a'in mages was the fellow who had apparently housed Mornelithe Falconsbane in his body. Kerowyn had told her how Falconsbane was actually Ma'ar – who had figured out a way to cheat death, by taking over the body of one of his descendants who happened to be mage-Gifted – and the particular body that had housed the Falconsbane incarnation just happened to be that of a half-Shin'a'in mage by the name of An'desha, whose personality was not entirely destroyed in the process and had been restored by the Goddess Herself when Falconsbane was finally killed. This came as very disturbing news to Taia.

On the one hand, she could hardly hold the person of An'desha, whom everyone who knew him was adamant that he was NOT Falconsbane, had had no control over what Falconsbane had done and lived with constant anguish over that fact. However, it was very difficult for her to actually not despise and wish revenge on that body that had caused her so much pain, regardless of its actual guilt or innocence. She resolved to do,her best to never meet this An'desha character; regardless of what she knew intellectually, she doubted she would actually be able to restrain herself from flaying him alive, and Whitestar agreed. So she focused on the troupe, and its wellbeing; not coincidentally, the wellbeing of her troupe increased her own reputation, which was that of an excellent fighter; reliable and respectable, and a leader who had uncanny abilities to strategize a victory out of the most unlikely of circumstances.

After a few more seasons, Taia decided her time with the mercenary troupe had come to an end. It was causing her a great deal of pain to continue to go out in the field every day, particularly in bad weather; she did it, but she knew that the longer she kept this up, the less tolerant her joints would be in the future. But what else was she to do? She was a warrior, she couldn't go back to the Vale and live there. It was suffocating for her to be limited to that life, however luxurious it was. And it was then she remembered her friend Kerowyn. Kerowyn had been a mercenary Captain, and now worked in the employ of Valdemar's crown. Granted, Kerowyn had been Chosen – but surely there was something of value she could provide as well. They were just now training mages again, it was likely they'd need teachers. And she could probably find a few students in weaponswork or even equitation. Whitestar could too, and she could work in Healer's Collegium as well.

"How do you feel about living in Valdemar?" she asked Whitestar one particularly cold night in their hut, fire blazing, huddled under the bearkskin-rabbit lined blanket. Over the years they had built a stove into the wall of the hut so that they could do their cooking – and their heating – inside, rather than out in the cold; Taia needed some respite from the weather, for all that she generally had to spend her days out in it training horses. She hardly had any time anymore to make weapons or armor, either for herself, Whitestar or the troupe.

"What would we do there?" asked Whitestar. "You're not thinking of trying to relocate the troupe, are you?"

"No, no, nothing like that," said Taia. "I'm thinking of leaving the troupe. I don't know how many more seasons my joints will tolerate this kind of abuse. I was hoping we might get jobs teaching – magecraft, weapons training, equitation for me and Healing for you. I thought I might send a message to Kerowyn and ask for her advice."

"That is not a bad idea," said Whitestar. "Are you sure you want to leave the troupe, though? We've made quite a life here. We will not be able to return, if you change your mind."

"I'm sure. I think I will send Rek north on one of the mares. Give him a message for Kerowyn. He should get back with her reply at the end of this next season – and we will have one more winter to stay here before we head north, should it be a reply in our favor," said Taia.

"That sounds good," says Whitestar. "Honestly, as much as I love our little hut with the furs – I wouldn't mind living in something a little more substantial for once."

"I totally agree," said Taia. "For a Shin'a'in girl who grew up expecting to live in nothing more than a tent made of deerhide for her entire life, this solid-walled hut does not provide me the luxury I feel I've earned!"

They both laughed at that. Taia had spent the first half of her childhood in a tent and the second in a large wooden room built on to the side of a tree; Whitestar had spent the entirety in that wooden room. Thus far they had spent their adulthood either on the road and sleeping in tents or in a hut with a thatched roof – solidly built, but still a hut and cooking – until recently – over an open fire pit in the yard. Whitestar secretly dreamed of living more permanently in a place she could plant a garden, both for healing and cooking herbs; Taia dreamt of having time to spend carving decorative things, not spending every waking spare moment making armor or weaponry. Maybe she'd even have time to finish training all of the horses, and not just the ones she planned on taking to battle every season.

And so it was decided. Rek, who was not quite yet old enough to fight in battle but who had learned to defend himself quite well, was quite willing – and eager – to take a solo trip to Valdemar. He would be in no real danger; he could fight well himself, and the horse Taia would give him to ride would defend him with her life if necessary and was experienced in battle. She sent him on Mina, the buttercream from Brandi who had been trained on the Plains and been used for more than one season of battle. She was a solid mount and a solid fighter, and liked Rek. Taia toyed with the idea of gifting Mina to Rek as reward for this service, on the condition that he breed her only to other Shin'a'in stallions if possible or Ashkevron ones if not and any progeny should be used only by Fire Eagle members. She thought she would.

She sent a note with her seal on it directly to Kerowyn:

"Dear Kerowyn,

I find that I tire of the mercenary life – or rather that my bones do. Both Whitestar and I were hoping to retire to something more peaceful at the end of this season, and were hoping to do so in Valdemar. Please reply if this would be a possibility for us, as we would prefer to be among friends we know than to seek employment with a noble we do not. Also, please be aware that if we come to Valdemar, which we very much would like to do, we will be coming with a herd of about fifty Shin'a'in horses and arriving the summer after this. Thank you.

Taia"

She sent Rek with enough coin to stay at inns for his entire journey, plus some extra supplies should he need them, as soon as winter lifted its grip enough to travel; in fact, he left the same day the troupe did for their first campaign of the season. This season would likely be Kyesh's last, and so Taia rode him and Syrx, who had taken Ishim's place, while Whitestar remained with Pieki and Ikien; Tinik and Ryev were fully trained, and would be brought along as packhorses and possible replacement mounts – Jessup was finally retired, as he was far too old to be traipsing about the countryside anymore. Taia would miss him, but he had certainly earned his retirement. This was promising to be a profitable season – regular campaigns, but none of them looked to be too difficult; and they were finally back to full strength.

It was bittersweet to be heading off for what she hoped would be their last mercenary season. Taia and Whitestar enjoyed their time with the Fire Eagles; they had found acceptance here, family, and adventure. They had honed their skills to the highest levels they were capable of and learned a great deal about life and about themselves. But it was time to move on; they hoped that on their return to the stronghold at the end of the season, Rek would be waiting with an offer of employment – from a country they had only visited for one season of exceptionally difficult war.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter twenty-five**

The battle was raging. It was a close match; the enemy they were fighting was almost their equal and if they had had any mages, would be their superior. The mage corps of the Fire Eagles was working on creating earthquakes as barriers, illusions of troops; Taia and Whitestar had been working as mages the previous day and were only on the battlefield instead because they had exhausted themselves. Taia had been fighting for several candlemarks and was beginning to feel it; her shoulders were sore, she had a hundred nicks and cuts and an arrow wound in her right thigh that was oozing blood around the arrow head she hadn't yet had time to remove. She had thought about Fetching it out but was afraid that it would bleed more heavily; if Whitestar had to distract herself for even a second to Heal her, they might both go down. So Taia ignored the pain and hoped that the arrow head wouldn't do permanent damage until after the battle, when she could Fetch it out at her leisure.

Suddenly she heard a roar coming from a few horse lengths over. There was a giant of a man riding – a bull?! – and swinging huge maces on the ends of chains, taking out swaths of soldiers. This wasn't good. She couldn't allow him to decimate her army. So she signaled Kyesh to move forward – out of range of the maces, but more lateral to the giant – and she brought her feet up onto his back in a crouch. She finished off the attackers immediately near her and yelling a battle cry launched herself through the sky towards the giant man. She flipped in the air in order to make herself a smaller target. As she straightened out, she caught one mace chain with her sword, allowing the chain to wrap itself around the sword blade. The mace itself hit her forearm and she hoped it wasn't broken – again – but she knew it was injured. No matter, she had two; and she used the sword, wrapped in the mace chain, to help pull herself behind the giant man, landing squarely on the haunches of his bull. She used the still-fully functional arm to lop off the man's other arm, then stabbed him through the back. She then took a moment to dislodge the remaining mace from her sword – and climbed down off the bull. She made her way back to Kyesh, who was doing a marvelous job of keeping himself unharmed despite having no rider, and remounted.

Unfortunately, she was now only able to fight with one arm, which was rather difficult for her; she had been fighting with a double-sword technique for her entire career. But her left arm was rather useless at the moment; she still wasn't even sure whether or not it was broken. Probably. As a result of being hobbled on the left side, she ended up with quite a few more sword wounds on that side than she might otherwise have had; but she did survive the battle. When it was over, she could not dismount. Not only was her left arm useless – she would have been able to dismount without it – but her left leg had too many gashes, not to mention the arrow head in her right, to support her weight. So she rode Kyesh, who was limping slightly from some cuts of his own, towards the river – and right in.

Once in the water, she was able to slide off Kyesh's back, where she was able to remove his armor and Fetched it back to camp after a thorough rinsing. She then removed her own armor and leathers, and after rinsing it, Fetched it back to camp with Kyesh's gear. This Mindmagic stuff came in handy, now and then. She swam under the water and felt along Kyesh's skin to determine the extent of his injuries and wash them as best she could. Once she determined that he had nothing life-threatening, she crawled back onto his back and they walked out of the river. Ordinarily, she tried not to ride her horse after battle, particularly when they limped; but she couldn't walk herself. She would simply have to ride Syrx the next day and give Kyesh a rest.

Whitestar had a similar collection of sword cuts and arrow wounds, although she had managed to get the arrow head out of her arm. Ikien was not limping, but also had several lacerations which would need to be Healed or stitched, depending on Whitestar's energy level after she was done with Taia and herself. They made it back to camp in their blood-soaked shifts – luckily, it wasn't quite as much blood as it appeared from the stains on their clothing – and Whitestar got to work. Taia fetched the arrow head out of her own leg while Whitestar Healed the tissue in its wake; that wound would be sore tomorrow, but fully Healed. She moved on to Taia's arm – which was not broken, exactly, but cracked – and after giving Taia an earful about being more careful and how dare she break a bone after all the work Whitestar had put in to healing them already, Healed that. She finished Healing all of the wounds they each had that were still bleeding – the ones that had scabbed could heal on their own – and moved on to the horses, while Taia got started cleaning and repairing the armor and weapons. The sword she had used to catch the mace had more than a few nicks to the blade; it would take quite a bit of work to get those out and make the blade flawless again. Taia thought that she would probably make herself a new sword when the season was over. She stripped the wrappings from all her blades and Whitestar's – they were too sodden with blood to even try to clean them – then cleaned and rewrapped them. She collected all the arrowheads and attached them to new shafts and had just begun refletching them when Whitestar returned, near to dropping, from Healing the horses.

"They'll both need tomorrow, and maybe the next day, off the battlefield but they will make a full recovery," she said.

"Good," said Taia. "I would hate to lose Kyesh. Or Ikien, he's proving himself well on the field."

"Yes, I think Ikien is my favorite mount so far," said Whitestar. "I would like to use him for stud so one of his line is always available to me."

"That can be arranged," said Taia. "I can't decide between mounts of Kyesh's line or Ishim's."

"Isn't Kyesh one of Ishim's colts?" asked Whitestar.

"No," said Taia. "Myk's. Ikien, too. Syrx is of Ishim, and Pieki."

"Hm. I like Pieki, too. I don't know. Maybe it will be nice to retire from the field and have our biggest worry be which horse has which father!" said Whitestar. Taia couldn't disagree with that.

Whitestar skinned and cooked the wild pig that Ryki had hunted for them that day while Taia finished with the arrows. She finished at about the same time Whitestar did, and accepted her dinner with gratitude. She had only just realized how hungry she was. She ate a large portion of the pork and drank a cup of kava. She grabbed a piece of buttered bread and another cup of kava and headed off to her strategy meeting. Whitestar sighed, and took herself to the Healer's tents – she had no more magical energy to spare, but she could stitch and poultice with the best of them.

"That was some impressive stunt you pulled there," said Miljek as she entered the strategy tent.

"I couldn't let that guy take out the whole army, now, could I?" Taia replied.

"I didna know ye were trained to do that," said Jexon. "And yer horse, he jest kep' on fightin'. That's some good trainin', right there."

"I'm not trained to do that," said Taia. "I am trained to leap from my horses' back, because you never know when you're going to have to catapult off if he gets killed – but not at anything. I guess I just reacted. As for Kyesh, he's one of the smartest horses I've ever trained, and apparently I did a damned good job!"

They all laughed.

"Well," said Taia. "I don't have any suggestions for strategy change, do you? I don't mean to be rude or dismissive, but we're all exhausted. The sooner we get finished, the sooner we all get to bed."

"I think a few more days, and we'll be ready to finish them off," said Milna. "I know it doesn't look like it, but we're winning, and winning big. We should be ready to wrap this up in a sennight, and then we don't have any more campaigns lined up this season."

"Well then," said Taia. "I guess that's it. When we are ready to finish them, I want to split the army into thirds – one to hit them head on and the other two to flank. In fact, why don't we start getting into position to do that tomorrow. Miljek, you should take the head on division; you have more foot soldiers and archers, they will be most effective there. Jexon, you and Ilken take the flanking positions. You have the majority of the skirmishing cavalry, so when we are ready to begin the flanking maneuver you will have the mobility to do so. Questions?"

There were none. The officers were dismissed back to their tents, leaving Milna, Ilken, Jexon, Miljek and Taia alone in the tent.

"I suppose now is as good a time as any to tell you," said Taia. "If things go as planned, this will be my last season with the Fire Eaglses. My joints are telling me it's time to retire. You all know I've sent Rek on a mission – but what you don't know is what that mission was. I sent him to Valdemar, to inquire for Whitestar and myself whether or not there are any job prospects there."

"But we only just got you back!" said Milna.

"What kinds of jobs will you do there?" asked Miljek.

"But ye canna leave!" said Jexon.

"Retire? After a move like the one you made today, you think you need to retire?" asked Ilken.

"That move broke my arm again," said Taia. "And while yes, in warm weather I can still be of use – in the winter, or in a cold rain, I am as much hindrance as help. It takes at least a candlemark before my joints will move freely, and then only with pain. I could continue on here for a few more years, certainly – but then what? I love the Fire Eagles, I always will. I've found a home here, a family; but it's time to move on. I'd like to teach; magecraft, weaponstraining, maybe equitation. But all of this is a bit premature, anyway; Rek may very well come back with an answer of no, and then the question is moot. I'll be staying on, at least until we figure out what's next."

"Ah, so we're yer backup plan, are we?" said Jexon. Taia was about to argue – and then she saw the glint in his eye. "Aye, Captain, we understand. The merc life – 'tis a hard life, and when y'eve seen what y'eve seen – perhaps 'tis time to slow down a bit, get yerself a right house an' a garden like, tech the young'ns about glory and fightin' so they's a-come to take yer place. If'n Rek comes back with a yes, we'll be sendin ye's off with a right good party; if'n he comes back with a no, we'll be havin' ye's for as long as ye stay an' good luck to ye no matter what."

"Well that's as fine a speech as any of us could ever hope to give," said Miljek. "We all agree, then – should Rek come back with a job offer from Valdemar, you'll get the sendoff you deserve. If not – well, we'll count ourselves lucky and keep you as long as we can."

"Thank you all," said Taia. "It's been a good – what, fifteen years? But it's time to move on. While I still can."

Taia went back to her tent – a little bit happy, a little bit sad. She hoped she was making the right decision. In the middle of the summer, when her joints were relatively well-behaved and she wasn't in pain, and she could perform at her expected level – she thought she should stay and go on forever. But in the winter – or in the spring or fall, if the weather was poor – she knew it was the right choice. She couldn't go out on campaign in the winter. She couldn't hardly make it through a cold rain. She would do it, of course – but it was miserable. And she couldn't be Captain of a mercenary troupe she couldn't fight with, no matter the weather, no matter the season. It was the right choice; a difficult one, but the right one.

They finished the campaign and with it the summer, and suddenly it was fall. They found an additional campaign to occupy their time during that season – and it was cold and rainy enough that Taia reinforced to herself the fact that her retirement was the right decision. Every morning was a trial to get up off the bedroll on the ground and wriggle into her armor; every day she had to spend time in pain warming up her muscles and her joints, and every night she whimpered back to that bedroll exhausted and miserable. She knew that Valdemar also had winter, and a harsher one than she was used to in Jkatha; however, she would also have rooms with solid walls, heat, a real bed, and more freedom to set her classes – at something later than the break of dawn.

So it was with a great deal of gratitude that they returned back to the stronghold at the end of the campaign season to find Rek, with a message from Kerowyn inviting them to Valdemar to start as teachers in magecraft, Healing, and weapons training. She wasn't sure whether or not equitation would be an option, but also wouldn't rule it out. So Taia and Whitestar returned to their hut, sad to be leaving it behind but excited to enter the next chapter. They spent the winter quietly saying their goodbyes to their comrades, one person at a time. Whitestar continued to tan hides, Taia continued to train horses – but she did not make any more armor. She began gathering the steel to make herself a new set of swords since hers had been damaged in the previous season, but she was in no hurry. She made a few Shin'a'in warbows as gifts for her friends, but she did not spend her evenings making any new equipment to replace that which was worn out. They did, however, make a lot of saddlebags; they had a lot of things in that hut that would need packing up and carrying out. Luckily, they had plenty of horses to do it with. Jessup would stay behind, given to a local farmer who had a daughter overjoyed to have her own horse – despite his advanced age. Taia would miss him, but he deserved being spoiled and cosseted by a little girl, and he would be of more use there than he would traipsing across the Combs again to stand in a field.

Finally the time came to leave. Taia and Whitestar gathered the troupe in the center of the stronghold to make the official announcement; not a single soldier failed to show.

"By now most of you have heard that we will not be joining you next campaign season," said Taia. "We depart the day after tomorrow to try our fortunes as teachers in Valdemar. It has been an amazing ride with the Fire Eagles, and we will always treasure the time we spent with you. We found welcome and family here, and the opportunity to try our skills with the best troupe in all of Velgarth. We wish you all the best, and should you ever require anything of us, please, do not hesitate to ask, and we will come."

There were cheers, a few people begging them to change their mind – but mostly, the troupe was happy for them and encouraged them on their journey. They allowed for a few people to ask questions, which they answered briefly and honestly, then it was time for business.

"Milna has been my co-captain for the last two seasons, and she operated as captain without me the season prior during my absence. I will appoint her to be the official Captain following my retirement, if she is so willing, and if you will have her," said Taia.

"I am so willing, and honored to serve this troupe in whatever capacity it sees fit," said Milna.

"All those in favor of Milna succeeding me as Captain permanently say aye," said Taia.

There was a roar of "aye's".

"All those against, nay," said Taia.

There wasn't a "nay" in the bunch.

"I have one thing to say, if it would be permitted," said Miljek. "I think that for the past few seasons it has been very effective to have a co-captaincy, and not that I want the position – I would turn it down if it were offered – but if Milna wished, I think it would be perhaps to the troupe benefit to continue with that model."

"I will certainly give it some consideration," said Milna. "We will have a meeting at the start of the season to discuss whether or not it seems the best plan and if so, who would be deserving of the role. But for now – we need to get down to serious business."

"Aye, an' what would that be?" asked Jexon.

"Planning tomorrow's sending-off party, of course," said Milna. "You didn't think we would let our beloved Taia and Whitestar go without one, did you?"

"Aye, no, of course not!" said Jexon.

And so the following day was spent in revelry and eating. It was lucky that Taia and Whitestar had most of their belongings already packed in saddlebags; they certainly didn't have time during that day to do any of it. They were kept busy all day with people coming up to them to offer their well wishes, their personal stories of how much Taia and Whitestar would be missed; Taia was surprised to discover that almost every member of the troupe had a story to tell. Some of them she had offered personal training to, some said she had saved their lives on the battlefield, some just wanted to tell her that they thought she had been a great Captain and she would be missed. Some of them remembered her from her Lieutenant days, when she went out of her way – they felt – to address their personal needs. They ate a lot of good food, drank a lot of good kava, and went to bed tired – but gratified – for their last night in their little hut, their first home as adults where they had found so much peace and security for so long.

In the morning, Taia rode Syrx – Kyesh had been retired the previous season – and Whitestar rode Pieki while they loaded up all of their belongings on the backs of the other horses. They rode out for a day in order to get away from the stronghold, and then Gated themselves to the edge of Kata'shin'a'in. They had decided to visit with Brandi, Jacqui and Kiri for a sennight on their way out, and thought they might spend another with Whitestar's family in the Vale. Tyke, ever the messenger, had left several days earlier to take the message to the Plains and returned with the message that Brandi, Jacqui and Kiri would in fact meet them in Kata'shin'a'in. With the size of Taia's herd, however, not even the Shin'a'in trade city was equipped to house them so they would camp just outside its border. They arrived at their designated location and had just finished setting up their tent when their companions arrived – and they had brought a surprise. A young woman Taia didn't recognize came riding up behind Kiri. She looked a little familiar – could it be?

Andrien. Her baby sister Andrien had made the trip to see her. Taia wasn't sure how to react; the last time she had seen Andrien, she had been delirious with the effects of her uncontrolled and unshielded Gifts and Andrien had been a terrified six-year-old girl. Taia had left the Plains and been exposed to the healthier beliefs of the Tale'edras cousins for the rest of her childhood; Andrien had grown up entirely under her mother's toxic influence. What would she be like? What would she think of her heretic, magic-wielding, shay'a'chern sister?

"Andrien," said Taia. She figured she might as well take the position of power and be the first to greet her sister. "It's been so long I hardly recognized you, you've grown up! I'm so happy you came."

"Hello, sister," said Andrien. "Kiri happened to be on her way to visit the Clan when your bird intercepted her and passed the message. She invited me to come along, and I thought maybe I should meet the sisters our mother banished."

Taia had forgotten that Brandi had been banished when Andrien was just a baby, and so she wouldn't have any memory of her. Taia and Whitestar greeted Kiri, Jacqui and Brandi, and then Taia introduced Whitestar to Andrien.

"Andrien, this is my lifebonded, Ale'shaya shena Pretera'sedrin k'Treva. Ale'shaya, this is my youngest sister, Andrien shena Pretera'sedrin."

"It's nice to meet you, Andrien," said Ale'shaya.

Andrien just nodded, a small smile on her face. She seemed a bit uncomfortable, but it was rather unclear whether it was because Ale'shaya was Tale'edras or because she was Taia's – female – lifebonded.

They got the horses settled, then headed to the nearest inn for dinner.

"So," said Brandi, "you retired? Had enough of the merc life?"

"My bones said I couldn't do it anymore," said Taia. "Ale'shaya says – well, you know how all the old women who had lived a lifetime of injuries and broken bones could tell you when a storm was coming because their joints would get sore?"

"Yeah, like mine," joked Jacqui.

"Ale'shaya says that when you break one, the change in the air pressure from the weather changes makes the joints swell after that. They heal from the break, but they're never quite the same," said Taia. "And as you know, well, I had all of mine broken. Some of them more than once. Which leads to a lot of stiffness and pain in the winter, or during a cold and rainy fall. I can't travel, really, in winter anymore; I can't camp in a tent in bad weather, at least not without more pain than….is tolerable. It takes too long for the muscles and the joints to warm up to be functional on a battlefield. So I decided to move on to a more posh lifestyle."

"Well, it sounds like you've earned it," said Brandi.

"I can't very well be a Captain of a merc troupe if I can't endure the conditions they do," said Taia. "Besides, a nice room in a building with real walls, a soft bed…a fireplace…sounds lovely, doesn't it?"

"You never lived with those, how would you even know?" joked Kiri.

"True, but it'd be nice to find out if they're all they're cracked up to be!" said Taia. "So Andrien, what news from Pretera'sedrin?"

"The shaman died," said Andrien. "He got sick, and since he wouldn't allow any of us to have a real Healer – well, he didn't make it."

"Wow," said Taia. "After…..everything he did to the Clan…..I can't say that I'm sorry."

Andrien shrugged. "He was the only shaman I knew," she said. "I know the other Clans…..do things differently, Kiri's been telling me. But – Pretera'sedrin is the Clan I grew up in. I don't know anything else."

It was what Taia was afraid of; the elders had planned to wait out the shaman, figuring they would outlast him – but in the meantime, an entire generation had grown up under his poison. It was anyone's guess how long it would take for Pretera'sedrin to reverse the damage. She also learned that Pretera'sedrin, of all the Clans, had sent one of its members to represent the Shin'a'in in Valdemar after the Kal'enedral Querna was killed; they sent Jarim. Taia remembered Jarim; a hotheaded, fanatical man who was unlikely to listen to anything other than his own opinion. She didn't think he would serve well as an envoy, but apparently the Shin'a'in had also realized this and sent a shaman to help him learn.

"What was it like?" asked Andrien, one night over the fire.

"What was what like?" asked Taia.

"Battle," said Andrien. "Fighting, doing what we're all trained to do – what was it like?"

Taia thought about that. She didn't want to scare the girl off – but she also didn't want to give her unrealistic ideas of glorious battle.

"It's exhausting, it's bloody, and it's a mess," she said. "You spend your days swinging a sword your arms are too tired to feel at people who are trying to kill you, and will, if you don't kill them first; but they're not evil, they're just people on the other side, they're just like you. You hear the clanging of the metal, the screams of the wounded, and when it's over you hear the sobs of the ones left behind and the moans of the dying, and some of them are your friends. You drag yourself to a river, through ground muddy with blood, where the water runs red from the blood you wash away into it. Then you spend your evenings getting your wounds stitched, fixing your weapons and your armor, and trying to scarf down enough watered-down soup to keep yourself from feeling too hungry. And the next day, you get up before dawn and you do it all again."

Andrien was very quiet, and a bit pale. "That sounds….horrible, and nothing like the stories you hear," she said. "Why on earth would you keep doing it?"

"Because you also get to fight on the side of the good, against a noble – mind you, the noble is the bad guy, mostly the ones fighting for him don't really have a choice – who is abusing his people, you get to use the skills you've been taught to defeat real evil – and you can develop some really good friendships with the people fighting at your side. There will always be war and conflict; it should be fought by the people who know how, so that the fewest number of people suffer."

Andrien thought about that. She clearly didn't know what to think of this sister she barely remembered, who wielded so much power with hardly a thought – and had been banished as heretic twice over from the only Clan, the only family Andrien had ever known. It would be a sennight of much learning and thought.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter twenty-six**

Taia had a wonderful visit with her sisters and Jacqui. It was wonderful to regale mercenary stories with Jacqui and Brandi over strong kava, and she enjoyed the opportunity to learn about Shin'a'in news from Kiri, and reunite with her sister Andrien. It was a challenge to get to know her youngest sister; Andrien's last memory of Taia was full of fear, of a sister called a witch and a heretic, flinging things around the tent. She had heard Taia outside that tent years later, when she had declared their mother oathbreaker – she had been inside the tent with Minka, listening to the entire exchange between Taia and the shaman. She had been terrified that Taia would be the monster that Andrien had been taught to believe she was and burn down the tent with them in it. When Taia merely declared their mother oathbreaker – a declaration which basically declares the person to be dead, unworthy of consideration – she hadn't been happy, but was surprised that Taia had not done anything outside the realm of what she was familiar with.

Taia was careful with Andrien; she wanted to have a relationship with her youngest sister, and to show her that she was not the monster Minka had raised her to believe she was. She wanted not only that, but to show Andrien that the other Clans were right; being shay'a'chern was not a horrific thing that needed to be condemned, and it was ok for Andrien to accept both herself and Brandi, as well as their respective spouses. She wanted also to dissuade Andrien from the idea that battle was only glorious and honorable – it could be both of those things, but it was also bloody, painful and hard – without making her hate her heritage of being a warrior, or even fearful of her own skills. She wanted her sister to like her; but she didn't want to try and fight Andrien's entire upbringing. That would only end up in being rejected, again.

In the end, it was a fairly successful reunification. Taia and Andrien developed while not a close relationship – that would be too much to expect from a single sennight – one of mutual respect and friendliness. Andrien never acknowledged Ale'shaya or Jacqui, which Taia found upsetting, but neither did she ignore them if they spoke to her. It was a beginning. After a sennight, they said their goodbyes. Taia promised Kiri, Brandi and Jacqui that she would write, and they promised to write back. Andrien – well, would not be allowed to receive letters from Taia as long as she lived in Pretera'sedrin, which she was not prepared to leave. And they had not established a relationship where Andrien was interested in that anyway. But Kiri said she would visit often, and see what she could do to help bring the Clan back to behaving normally now that the shaman was dead. Taia and Whitestar went outside Kata'shin'a'in territory with her sisters escort and built the Gate to the Vale.

They were some of the few mages powerful enough to still construct Gates after the storms; while it was true that the energy to form a Gate had to come wholly from within any mage creating one, and not from a node, the recovery time was now much longer since the mage could not simply pull energy from a node to replenish himself; he had to wait for the natural energy to redevelop. Taia and Whitestar would have been much the same, if it weren't for the lifebond. Since they had that, they were able to use their combined energies to build the Gate, and not only energy from one or the other. When it finally appeared, Andrien let out a little yelp of shock; she had never seen magic before. They hugged goodbye quickly – and ushered their herd through the Gate before they followed.

"That was a lovely visit," said Whitestar. "I'm glad you could reunite with Andrien a little, although I must say I'm a bit disappointed that she didn't warm up over the course of the visit."

"I am a little disappointed as well, but I suppose it's too much to expect a lifetime of teaching to be overcome in one sennight," said Taia.

"True," said Whitestar. "I just can't understand how seeing her two sisters in flesh and blood, happy and loving towards her, can't convince her that perhaps that teaching of hatred and fear might not be correct."

"Yes," said Taia. "But what we're forgetting is we're not trying to overcome the specific teaching against being shay'a'chern. If she questions that, she has to question everything that shaman, and our mother, have ever taught her. And not only that, she has to start to consider whether or not her mother – the only mother she has, and her sole source of family for most of her life – was correct to banish her two sisters, whom she barely remembers at all."

"I guess I hadn't thought about it that way," said Whitestar.

"I wouldn't have either, if I hadn't lived there myself and had to do just that. But then, I was younger when I had to confront those beliefs; more malleable. And it wasn't just about a couple of sisters I didn't really know – it was about myself, and how I felt about you. I had a much greater incentive to change my mind," said Taia.

"And Andrien not only has to confront those beliefs as an adult, but they don't directly affect her. And if she comes to the conclusion that we are not hideous, what is she going to do? Pretera'sedrin is still the only home she has, and deciding to leave it is not an easy choice to make," agreed Whitestar.

Taia nodded. They rode on, each thinking their own thoughts for awhile, until they reached the Vale. It was evening; they unloaded the horses and got them settled in the dyheli field and then headed to their old ekele, still left available for them by Bluefeather, who held out constant hope that Whitestar would return. They spent some time in those wonderful baths and went promptly to sleep, exhausted.

They spent another sennight visiting with the Tale'edras. Bluefeather was overjoyed that Whitestar was giving up the dangerous life of a mercenary fighter – but dismayed that she still wasn't returning to live in the Vale. Greyhawk and Hawkwind enjoyed listening to their tales of their life with the Fire Eagles and were very interested in their plans in Valdemar; they, too, were sorry that Whitestar wouldn't be returning to live there, but promised to write back when Whitestar said she would write. They enjoyed visiting with their Tale'edras family, enjoyed the party they inevitably were thrown – and of course, those baths. But soon it was time to leave for Valdemar, and the next stage of their lives.

"I'm really nervous," said Taia. "I mean, I know this is what we wanted, and I know it's the right decision – but what if we hate it? What if we're completely miserable?"

"What if nobody likes us?" joked Whitestar. "No, I'm nervous too. But you know what we do if we hate it and we're miserable and no one likes us? We come back. We come back to the Vale and regroup; maybe we can find work as court mages, or hire out as bodyguards, or whatever. We're not old, just decrepit – in your case! We can change our minds if this doesn't work out. Gating back will take more energy from Valdemar than it will to Gate to it because we won't have the Heartstone – but we can do it. Don't worry – at least we know some people there, so we won't be entirely alone, and if we hate it? We come back."

"You're right, of course," said Taia. "Ok, let's do this."

They said their final goodbyes to Whitestar's family and the few Tale'edras remaining that remembered them – Lightwind was the only one remaining from Taia's first days, other than Whitestar's immediate family, Snowowl had sadly passed a few years prior – and built the Gate. They again herded the horses through the Gate prior to themselves – and there they were, in Valdemar. They had built the Gate to the place where they had been camping for the war with Ancar, which was some distance from Haven; they had to build the Gate to a large field because of the horses, and to a place they were familiar with because that was the only way a Gate could be built. So once they passed through the Gate, they set up camp; it was a large distance to Gate, and they needed to recover their energies before proceeding. The next morning they loaded the horses back up and started the journey to Haven. It would take them about another sennight to travel the distance on horseback, but had they traveled by horseback all the way from Jkatha, with the entire herd, it would have taken the entire spring and well into summer.

"I have to say, as much as I'm looking forward to solid walls and a real bed, I'm going to miss traveling and camping like this," said Taia.

"Me, too," said Whitestar. "But I'm sure we'll have the opportunity to go on little trips now and then. They can't have us teaching every day, all the time, can they?"

"Well, I've been thinking. They don't exactly have any way of knowing when the Companions will do their Choosing; so it's not like they can only offer classes during certain seasons. I imagine there will be holidays and we can take the occasional vacation, but classes run all year round," said Taia.

"Hm," said Whitestar. "Well – we don't have to offer them every day, we have some autonomy, right? So maybe the occasional three- or even four-day break. I'm not going to worry about it just yet."

"Probably a good idea," said Taia.

They arrived at Haven on the evening of the seventh day. They had notified Kerowyn of their impending arrival via Mindspeech, and she had met them at the gate to direct them to the area they would be allowed to keep their herd; Companion's field was large, as were the Royal Stables, and they were allowed to fence off a portion for their herd's use. In return, the Crown requested the right to take, free of charge, any horse from the herd Taia was willing to sell. Taia thought it was a very favorable deal, and thought there would be a few horses she would be willing to give the Crown immediately; two seasons ago, she had bred all of her available mares and ended up with twelve foals. She had planned on selling half of them, and was happy to give them to the Crown immediately after training them. She had a feeling there would be many more, since she no longer had the need to maintain a plethora of replacement battle mounts.

"Welcome to Valdemar," Kerowyn said, when they had taken care of their horses and had their belongings delivered to the rooms they'd been assigned. They hadn't seen them yet, but were sure they'd be more than adequate; two whole rooms, a sitting room and a bedroom, each with its own fireplace! And a private bathroom! It was luxury. It wasn't Tale'edras baths, but it was more than they had hoped for. They had hoped to be granted one small room to use until they were able to find a house they could afford; but apparently, teachers were housed at the Collegium itself, and they had been granted rooms to keep on a permanent basis.

"Thank you," said Taia. "We think we'll be quite happy here."

"I think you will be," said Kerowyn. "And as your official welcoming committee, I would like to take you to one of our more popular inns for dinner, if you're up to it. Your classes won't start for another sennight; we're giving you a chance to get settled, but we're hoping you'll use the time to familiarize yourself with the Collegium grounds as well as the customs of the Collegium itself, so that it won't be such a shock for you, or for the students, when classes begin."

"That sounds quite generous, both the dinner and the sennight to account for culture shock!" said Whitestar.

And so they headed off to the Compass Rose Tavern – where they were in for another surprise.

"Firesong!" said Whitestar. "I didn't know you were in Valdemar! What are you doing here?"

"From what I hear, the same thing as you, cousin," said a ridiculously attractive man sporting the traditional Tale'edras white hair, pale eyes – and an outlandishly styled costume, complete with a mask covering half his face; Taia wondered what that was about. "I came north with Darkwind and our other cousin, Elspeth to help with the mage training. After the scheme to solve the mage storms, I spent a lot of time with k'Leshya; but I am up here now to visit my old friends – and thought I would surprise my dear cousin while I was at it!"

"Wait, Elspeth is our cousin too?" said Whitestar. "Vanyel was prolific for a shay'a'chern man!"

"So it would seem," said Firesong. "And you must be Taia. I've heard much about you."

"Hello," said Taia. "Whitestar has told me some about you, as well. Apparently, you're very creative in your use of shields and the place between Gates."

"Hm, quite," said Firesong with a glint in his eye. "I will show you, later, if you wish. And also, I offer my thanks for your assistance in the – unpleasantness a few years back."

"No thanks necessary, and yes, I would be very interested in learning whatever you can teach me," said Taia.

"Perhaps there are a few things we could learn from each other; I am not at all well-versed in combative magics."

"But I am, and I would still like to learn more, if you are willing to teach me," said a new voice. A dark haired man, clearly Tale'edras, walked in to the tavern with a young woman wearing Whites – but in the Tale'edras style.

"Darkwind, you're late!" laughed Firesong.

"I am," said the man. "And I offer my apologies. I was helping the gryphons teach the little ones something about wrestling fairly with a kyree."

"Gryphons?" said Taia, eloquent as always in surprise. "And kyree?"

"I seem to have left something out in my explanation of our arrival," laughed Firesong.

"I am Darkwind k'Sheyna, and I served as scout for my Vale," said Darkwind. "And yes, when we came north with Elspeth here, we brought with us two adult gryphons – Treyvan and Hydona – and their offspring, as well as the kyree Rris who helps as caretaker of the young ones."

"We would love to meet them, if they are willing," said Whitestar.

"Of course," said Darkwind. "I am sure they would be excited to meet the legendary Taia and Whitestar shena Pretera'sedrin k'Treva."

"I don't know about legendary," said Taia.

"Oh yes," said the woman in white. "You are legendary. The Shin'a'in mage who told the Companions to leave her alone, who confronted the mage barrier and won, who gave us the strategy we needed to defeat – " she stopped in midsentence – " – sorry. Didn't mean to bring that up. But yes, you are legendary, both of you. I am Elspeth, by the way, we've actually met although briefly."

"Yes, I remember now, I apologize. I met you in the council discussing the war with Ancar. I confess, I was very nervous that day and don't really remember anyone!" said Taia.

"You were nervous?" said Elspeth. "What do you have to be nervous about? You're the most competent woman I've met, other than Kero."

Elspeth blushed. Kerowyn looked like she was trying to stifle laughter. No one said anything for a bit; no one was quite sure what to say.

"Well," said Taia. "I thank you for the compliment. But I think perhaps we should all get to know each other a bit more, else we continue to think each other some strange new beast with magical powers!"

"A little difficult when everyone here but me DOES have magical powers," said Kerowyn.

:This is a magical power, is it not?: said Taia, broadSending to all of them with a quirk of her eyebrow.

"Oh, you do look positively Shin'a'in with that expression," said Kerowyn.

"Well, I'd better, or the illusion isn't holding," said Taia.

"Illusion, cousin?" asked Firesong. "Why do you make an illusion of your appearance? Are you ashamed of your white hair?"

"No," said Taia. "But growing up Shin'a'in, I never expected to have any, at least not before I was an oldster. When I was banished from my Clan for being a mage, and further rejected when it turned out I was shay'a'chern besides, I felt like my entire identity was gone. I wanted to keep at the very least my appearance, so I worked the illusion into my shields so that I would at least recognize myself. Now – let's just say I don't want to scare the children. After many battles, as well as – other things – I have a plentitude of scars."

"As do I, my new friend, as do I – else I would not be wearing this mask, hm?" said Firesong. "I should think about that illusion bit, though, I might try that. Linked into your shields then, correct? I rather enjoy the flair of the mysterious with these masks, but that trick might prove right useful at times."

"Feel free to copy it," said Taia. "Although, it would probably work best if you looked like yourself, and not me!"

They spent the evening talking, laughing, telling stories of life in the Vales, life on the Plains, and life in the Collegium. Taia learned that Kerowyn had been the one to teach Elspeth her fighting skills – and Elspeth pretty much worshipped the ground Kero walked on. Elspeth had travelled south almost immediately after the war with Ancar to find mages and had discovered herself to be one; she had been trained by Firesong and Darkwind in k'Sheyna Vale while Taia herself was laid up in k'Treva recovering from Falconsbane. While she was there, k'Sheyna had their own interactions with Falconsbane, requiring Firesong's assistance – which was why he was unavailable at k'Treva to help Taia's Healing, as Whitestar had hoped. When the repair of k'Sheyna was complete, and Falconsbane thought dead, Firesong, Darkwind, and the gryphons – with the kyree caretaker – had come north with Elspeth, along with Nyara who apparently had become the companion of the other Herald that had been with k'Sheyna, Skif – to be ambassadors of their peoples as well as to aid the Heralds in training new mages to serve in what had been anticipated to be the next war with Ancar. However, when Darkwind, Firesong, Elspeth, Skif and Nyara – with that sword of Kerowyn's called Need – had undertaken their quest into Hardorn to kill Falconsbane once and for all, they had also managed to kill Ancar and Hulda, his Eastern Empire companion. And the spells which compelled the Hardornen army to fight Valdemar vanished, leaving them at peace.

Taia found it somewhat disconcerting to hear about the things that had happened while she was held prisoner and while she was recovering. That period felt to her like time had stopped; but it had been more than an entire year. It was easier to hear about the things that had occurred while she was back at the Fire Eagles. Apparently, Karse and Valdemar, longtime enemies, were now allies; they had united in response to Ancar's aggression, but now, with the Son of the Sun – a woman, for the first time in history, named Solaris – making efforts to eliminate the heresy that had taken over her country, the alliance with Valdemar was beginning to solidify. In response to this effort, there was actually a Karsite priest by the name of Karal here in Haven as an ambassador to attempt not only to eliminate any remaining hostilities, but to establish a solid friendship between the two nations. Apparently, Karal was also a channel for mage energy and had been blinded by the same scheme that had scarred Firesong's face; and the sword Need has been destroyed altogether.

And here was Taia and Whitestar in the middle of all of that, getting ready to help teach – whatever they could teach. When they were done catching up and getting to know each other, they left the tavern and began walking back to the Collegium. They walked through the gates and were deep in conversation when they arrived to the hallway containing Taia and Whitestar's rooms. It had been a lovely day, and a wonderful – homecoming. It felt like a homecoming.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter twenty-seven**

They changed into sleepclothes and crawled into the bed. It was a wonderful luxury to have a real bed; stuffed with goosedown, it was soft as a cloud, and with linen sheets and a silk coverlet, it was the height of luxury. They slept soundly and woke refreshed. They spent their morning exploring their rooms; there was a goosedown blanket in one of the wardrobes for winter, but otherwise the rooms were furnished but undecorated. They unpacked their saddlebags and hung skins decoratively on the walls, used some as rugs, others strewn as blankets on the chairs. Whitestar resolved to remake some of their stuffed-skin blankets into pillows for the couches. They arranged their clothing in the wardrobes and trunks and then realized they were done. The rooms looked rustic, but pleasant. It suited them; they weren't cityfolk, they were Plains people, Tale'edras people, mercenaries.

They wandered out of their rooms and found a page at their door; he had been posted by their door specifically by Kerowyn to escort them to the dining hall. He also had a message for them to have a page – they're young boys and girls dressed in blue – direct them to the weapons training area when they were ready. They ate their breakfast, which was delicious, and proceeded to the weapons training area.

"You're earlier than I expected," said Kerowyn. "Didn't care to unpack yet, did you?"

"We did unpack," said Whitestar. "Apparently it's going to take awhile before we stop waking at the break of dawn."

Kerowyn laughed. "Very well, and yes, it will," she said. "This is the salle. This is where the majority of the weapons training is held. Anything involving horses, of course, is done on the field, but between myself, Alberich, Jeri and you, Taia, there will be quite a few weapons classes held and most of them will be here. We were hoping you would be willing to focus on advanced level students, since your skills are superior to any of ours."

"Certainly," said Taia. "I'll teach whatever classes you want me to teach."

"Good. Because we might also throw you a few beginners or some recalcitrant nobles who think they know it all, although those are rather my specialty. Darkwind will be explaining to you exactly what mage classes he's hoping the two of you will be able to take, and of course Healer's Collegium will be assigning Whitestar's classes there. Any questions?"

"One," said Taia. "We were planning on offering our services as well to the Royal Army, so that in the event of a conflict, we are not stuck here teaching but out in the field where we can be of some use. How do we go about doing that?"

"You just did," said a voice behind her. Taia turned to see a familiar-looking woman, blonde, with a coronet – Selenay. The Queen.

"Your Majesty," said Taia, and offered a quick bow. Whitestar followed suit.

"Oh, none of that formality," said Selenay. "My name is Selenay, and you are free to use it when we are in informal settings. I will accept your offer, and present you to the Lord Martial for placement later today. I came to welcome you to Valdemar, and to offer my thanks for your service."

"Thank you for having us, Selenay," said Whitestar. "It is our honor to be of service."

They spent the rest of the day touring the areas that they would be teaching in and meeting the people they would be receiving class assignments from. Whitestar's contact in Healer's Collegium, a jolly, round fellow named Loche, was overjoyed to have her there. The Lord Martial assigned them the rank of Lieutenant, meaning in this army that they were in charge of any new recruits in their unit. It was fitting, Taia thought; she should not be in command of an army she had not served in, but she did not want to be treated as a raw recruit. It was a good day.

And so the next few moons passed quickly. Taia spent her mornings teaching weapons classes; she had one class of beginners, one class of advanced swordwork and one class of specialty students. These were students who were either particularly good at one weapon, students who were training for a particular purpose; or in the case of one student, she was particularly poor at anything involving, well, more coordination than it took to walk but had been Chosen, so she needed to learn to defend herself. Taia found that she actually really enjoyed teaching this student; despite their being entirely different, one of them being a prodigy at pretty much anything involving a weapon and the other being – well, exceptionally uncoordinated, Taia enjoyed the girl's spirit and her willingness to try her best at whatever task Taia set for her. The girl just never gave up. She was absolutely determined to find something, some way she could defend herself, no matter how outlandish, how ridiculous. Taia enjoyed the challenge. In the end, Taia taught her to throw whatever she had at hand at the attacker and use her Gifts in particularly creative ways. She was a good Mindspeaker, so she taught the girl to 'screech' in peoples' heads at a particularly painful pitch. She wasn't powerfully Gifted at Fetching, but Taia taught her to use what she had to pin an attackers hands down, or to make them punch themselves in the face – the more ridiculous, the better. And she taught her to cling to her Companion's back and not fall off no matter what came at her.

After lunch, she taught two Mage classes, mostly in combative arts; one in attack methods as a single fighter and one in team approach. After that she taught advanced equitation, where all but one of her students were Herald trainees and the one who was not was a supremely gifted horseman; she actually decided that his "graduation" gift would be a Shin'a'in gelding from her herd. Someone with his talent and obvious love of horses needed a suitable mount. After that she drilled with the Royal Army to keep her own skills sharp as well as to get acquainted with the soldiers and maintain her role as a fighter amongst them. This was the one activity that she and Whitestar did together; and when they were through, they were both exhausted and ready to drop. Whitestar spent her mornings teaching Mage classes, mostly in defensive and shielding techniques, and in after lunch she either taught Healing or helped perform actual Healing at the Collegium. After dinner, they spent time with their herd to maintain their training regimen and took the birds out for some much-needed exercise and hunting.

Taia had a concern of her own she wanted to address. She wondered, at times, whether or not her application of mage and swordcraft was truly moral, or whether she was deluding herself. There was no shortage of Gifts in Valdemar, but with rare exception, almost anyone with a Gift was Chosen. And Companions only Chose those who were of high moral caliber; so why hadn't she been Chosen? Or if not her, why not Whitestar? Whitestar surely was good enough to be Chosen, so why hadn't they been?

This question nagged at her. She couldn't stop thinking about it, and had virtually worked herself into a frenzy believing herself to have been evil all this time, and not doing the best she could to be good all along. She decided she must have an answer, and so one day she took herself down to Companion's Field and determined to find one.

She walked stubbornly up to the fence and Broadsent to all the Companions inside –

:Excuse me. With respect, I wonder if one of you lot would deign to speak with me. I have some questions I would have answered.:

She waited. All the white horselike heads raised and looked at her, but most of them looked away just as quickly. But one Companion did not look away. He looked hesitant, like he was considering his options, and then he walked up to the fence. He was larger than some of the other Companions, and seemed to glow just a little brighter. He stopped just in front of her.

:I am Rolan: he said into her mind. :I will attempt to answer your questions.:

Taia found herself slightly tongue tied. But she persisted.

:Well…..you lot seem to Choose all the Gifted around. At least the Gifted who are also morally sound. I – well, there's no questioning the fact that I have many Gifts, as does Whitestar. Have…have I been deluding myself all this time that I am a decent person? Am I really just a monster?:

:Of course you are not a monster, child,: said Rolan. :We considered Choosing you, you and Whitestar both. Any of us would be honored to have Chosen either of you, at least those that are unpartnered.:

:Then – why have you not?: Taia asked.

:Because we also know how little of your lives you have planned,: said a gentle voice inside her head. :We know that if you could have remained simply Shin'a'in, and simply Tale'edras, respectively – each of you would have been fulfilled. We know that you have joined the mercenary troupe only to attempt to serve the good, and not because you had any control over the possession of your talents. You have the bonds of each other, the bonds with your birds – and you so enjoy your horses. We did not wish to give you yet another burden of being a Herald of Valdemar, a land that is not your own, and a bond with one of us that would result in your deaths should we fall. We were attempting to give you back some of the control over your lives that you did not have. However, if we were remiss – if you would prefer to enjoy the bond with Companion – we will certainly oblige. And we did not wish to be the cause of any pain or confusion.:

Taia thought about it. Did she actually want to be a Herald? Did she want to have one more bond that would mean her death should it be broken? Not particularly. She had heard of the closeness of the Herald-Companion bond, the wholeness that each member felt upon forming the bond; but she couldn't imagine that it was any different, or any better than the bond she had with Whitestar. And she also had Ryki and Sera – the bond with them wasn't quite as strong, but it was a strong bond nonetheless. Rolan was right; she didn't want yet another bond with yet another creature, she had quite enough of them already. What she had wanted was confirmation that she was not an evil monster, that she was good enough to be Chosen – but she didn't want to actually become a Herald.

:Thank you: she said to Rolan. :Thank you, but no, no disrespect to you lot, but you were correct. I do not wish to become a Herald. I do not wish to have another bond that will mean my death – or yours, or Whitestar's – should it be broken. I do not wish to have yet another claim on my identity that I did not choose. But thank you, for speaking with me, for considering me before Choosing, and thank you for reassuring me that I am not a monster.:

:You are welcome, young Shin'a'in. We will not likely speak again, but know that should you change your mind, all you need do is make it known.:

And with that, Rolan turned and walked away. Taia was relieved; she had the answer to her questions, but did not have the pressure of yet another bond. For if she had been Chosen by a Companion, and Whitestar as well, should any one of the four of them be cut down in battle – all four would follow that one to death. She acknowledged that it was possible that should Whitestar be cut down she would survive, due to the bond with the Companion; Vanyel had survived the loss of Tylendel in just that manner. But she absolutely did not want to survive that loss, and she knew Whitestar would feel the same way. She had her answer; she was not a monster. She was qualified to become a Herald, she was moral enough to become a Herald – but not obligated to do so. She could continue on her way, a simple mage and a warrior with a herd of Shin'a'in horses and a pair of bondbirds, lifebonded to a Healer-mage warrior, with no additional responsibilities. It was enough.

It was more than enough.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter twenty-eight**

Taia and Whitestar continued teaching for Valdemar's Collegium for several years. Mage classes, sometimes advanced and sometimes beginners, sometimes a particular student with a particular difficulty or an unusual Gift. Those were the interesting ones; Taia particularly enjoyed the students who had difficulty learning, she felt it stretched her abilities as a teacher to find new ways of teaching, new ways of helping the student finally master whatever had been eluding them. Whitestar had more of a flair for the unusual Gifts; having grown up around magic from infancy, she had intuitively learned its rules and was able to recognize more patterns between how different Gifts functioned. Firestarting and Fetching, for example, were similar in nature but didn't appear to be so at first glance. But when broken down into its most elemental state, Firestarting involved manipulation of the molecules to create friction; manipulation of physical objects was Fetching at its most basic.

After lunch came weaponstraining for Taia and Healing classes for Whitestar. Taia mostly taught the same things in weapons classes that she did in mage classes – either beginners, advanced students or students with particular talents or difficulties. She also taught a few courses in equitation, but these were far less common. She was starting to increase her weapons classes and decrease the mage ones; Alberich was getting older, and wasn't able to teach as many classes as he had previously, so while there was a promising replacement among one of the circuit Heralds eventually, for now Taia was 'it'. When she was between classes she drilled with the army and in the evenings, she took her turn on the watch. There were periodic skirmishes that the army was called upon for, and they generally went out with the army; they didn't want to lose their skills, and since they were both members of the army and Taia was an officer, she was required to serve in the field.

It was in this fashion that she managed to get herself promoted up the line of command, in much the same way she had been with the Fire Eagles; simply by sharing her ideas and doing her job to the best of her ability. She was promoted to Seargent and Commander and then Lord Martial, when the Lord Martial she had hired on under retired. She wasn't quite sure this was a positive development, though, as it significantly added to her duties; she now had to schedule drills with all the units, see that those drills were carried out, assign the watch – all the normal duties of a military commander, in addition to the classes she was teaching. Now she also had to attend council meetings. Fortunately, she did not need to attend all of them; if she had been required to sit and listen politely to the nobles squabble over taxes and resource allotment to their regions, she would have executed a bit of mercenary discipline on them.

Winters were still hard on Taia, although not so hard as when she'd been in the field. It was surprisingly helpful to have solid walls with reliable warmth, a bed that was soft and supported her arthritic joints; she also figured a way to link the same heating spell they used for their tent in the field to her shields, at least long enough to keep her warm while walking between buildings and even when working outside, if she didn't have anything else to use up her energy. As a mercenary captain, it would have been a waste of her personal mage energies; but here, during peacetime, she had no reason whatsoever not to do so. They had turned many of their furs into throw pillows and blankets for their rooms – but not all. They had kept one luxurious set of winter gear each – wolfskin cloaks lined with rabbit fur and stuffed with feathers; boots made of the same thing but bearskin instead of wolf, rabbit fur gloves as well as tunics and leggings. They were remarkably warm, which was necessary when they were out working the horses.

One such winter after lunch, they were out working the horses, training some of the new yearlings for sale; there was enough of the herd now that Taia was selling a good portion of every year's foaling. Out of the blue, a snowball hit Taia square in the back. She turned, surprised to see Kerowyn and Eldan happening out on a stroll with their Companions – and fired back. Before they knew it, they were in an all-out snowball fight, with the Companions kicking up snow at their "opponents" as well; Taia even managed to get her current mount, a jet-black stallion named Irix she particularly liked, to kick up some snow by giving him a particular set of combat commands. In the end they declared the match a draw, and lay covered in snow laughing until their sides hurt.

"I don't remember the last time I had that much fun," said Taia.

"Well then you should make sure you're having more fun," said Eldan.

"Easy for you to say," replied Taia. "I don't know how I ended up with so many jobs!"

"Well that's easy," said Kerowyn. "You came to Valdemar and offered your services. They have a way of eating up every last minute of your day if you prove at all capable and willing!"

"That is definitely true," said Whitestar. "And I don't even have her jobs. I just teach and Heal, teach and Heal. No meetings, no responsibility outside the classroom…..and I'm still finding it hard to have any free time."

"I don't even sit down to eat anymore," said Taia. "And that's when I even find the time to eat. Usually I just grab something portable and eat it on the way to class or a council meeting."

"That's not healthy and you know it," said Kerowyn. "Why don't you talk to the Blues, have them deliver your meals to your classrooms? You obviously can't eat during the council meetings, but there's no reason you can't eat in between or even during a few classes. At least you'd be sitting down."

"That's a good idea," said Taia. "I didn't actually realize I could do that. I think I will, starting tomorrow."

"Good," said Eldan. "Because you're going to need the extra energy!"

And with that, the snowball fight resumed until all parties were entirely out of breath, exhausted – and smiling. The next morning, Taia asked the Blue that normally tended to their rooms who she should talk to about having her meals delivered to her classrooms.

"We thought you'd never ask!" he said with a grin. "No worries, miss, I'll take care of it directly. Today it'll just be a general selection, but if you'd care to leave me an order in the evenings I'll see that it gets done every day!"

"Thank you," said Taia, a bit taken aback by his enthusiasm. "I'll make sure you are noted for a job done exceptionally well, and when you're old enough to join the guard – should you choose to do so – I'll make sure you get in with a good group."

"Thanks, miss! I want to join the archers. I'm a good shot, but not strong enough for infantry. Thank ye!"

Taia smiled and hurried off to her first class. He reminded her of Rek; she wondered, briefly, how Rek was getting on. He would be old enough now to join the troupe in battle; she hoped he was doing well. This meal delivery system was going to be a very helpful development. Pocket pies for every meal was not exactly satisfying her dietary needs, or her hunger. The new arrangement served quite well; Taia was usually able to finish her meals, now sufficient for her actual needs, in between students. She began to feel much less rushed, and even occasionally managed to find time to share dinners with Whitestar some evenings, as well as the occasional evening alone in their room to talk, read, or – do other things. Whitestar took up weaving and tanning again; they didn't take the bondbirds out hunting very often, but the birds would frequently hunt while they were out with the horses so they were still the recipients of a few skins. Taia took up silversmithing again, making weaponry, armor – and even occasionally jewelry. They actually built enough routine and free time that they felt like they actually had a life – and not just a continuous series of jobs to get through.

There were a few border skirmishes during this time, some of which required the assistance of allies from Hardorn, Karse and occasionally Rethwellan. The Eastern Empire was constant in its attempts to feel out its neighbors for whether or not conquest was a good idea and they were starting to also see some aggression from countries south of Karse and Rethwellan that no one had really had any reason to pay attention to before, when Ancar had been a much bigger threat and then the mage storms required everyone's full focus. Much to Taia's surprise, her services with the Fire Eagles had spread her reputation far and wide; when the ambassadors from Hardorn, Rethwellan and Karse came to request the military aid of Valdemar – they all agreed to serve under Taia's command, instead of attempting to share command which often led to petty squabbles and wasted time. Taia did not even offer to command all the allied armies; her services were specifically requested. She was surprised, but honored, by their trust and served in this position to the best of her ability, and the results were generally positive. The allies won all their wars together, although whether or not they would have done so anyway was up for debate. Taia strongly suspected that they would have. Still, she was happy that she had provided the services that had been requested of her successfully and to the best of her ability, and did not believe that anyone else could have done better. Whether or not they would have done worse, well, no one could really say.

Which, of course, and as no one could have predicted, would set the stage for the greatest challenge of her life.

It was a beautiful, sunny, cloudless day in late fall; not too hot, not too cold, just a bit of a breeze wafting the smell of the flowers in the nearby garden through the air. Taia was taking this opportunity to hold a mock-battle out in the field among this year's crop of advanced weapons training students, who were galloping their mounts towards each other with barely-blunted swords, fighting an all-out "battle"in preparation for graduating from Taia's care. Taia herself was sweaty, grimy, and covered in the dust thrown up by the hooves of the horses, with leaves in her hair, which was windblown and messy despite having carefully braided it that morning to keep it under control. They were midway through the session when a Blue came running towards Taia at full speed, out of breath and reported having an emergency message.

"Emergency council meeting, milady, your presence is required immediately!" he said, gasping for air.

"Very well, I will clean up and arrive within half a candlemark," Taia replied.

"No, milady, beggin' yer pardon, but the Queen herself said come now at all possible speed," the page replied.

Taia thought for a moment. What could possibly be such an emergency that Selenay would demand her presence without the benefit of pulling the sticks out of her hair?!

"Very well, thank you page. Nonetheless, I hardly believe Selenay wishes me to arrive with leaves in my hair and grime on my clothing, so I will ask you to return to her with the message that I am coming with all possible haste, but will not insult the council by arriving in my current state of dress."

"Yes, milady," said the Blue, and took off in the direction he had come as fast as he could run. Taia sighed. She quickly instructed her top student to continue the mock battle and finish the lesson, but that she had to leave immediately. She ran to her rooms as quickly as she could and whipped on the first clean uniform she could find; she Fetched her hair into a presentable appearance on the way out the door and hurried down to the council chamber. The guards at the door saw her coming and opened the door for her and she walked in to find that she was, indeed, the last to arrive.

"My apologies, your majesty, I was in the middle of a weapons lesson and did not want to arrive covered in dirt," she said.

"We will proceed without delay. The reason I have called you here in such an emergent manner is this. There is an army advancing from the south. It is larger than any army we have ever seen. Its origin is unknown, but it appears to be – surprisingly – mage-controlled. With the new state of magic after the storms, the fact that it is mage-controlled is particularly disturbing as it implies that the leader of this army is an astoundingly powerful mage. This army is sweeping through every land it touches, killing its inhabitants – young, old, women, even livestock – and any surviving able-bodied male is forced to join. They burn the land in their wake. Its purpose is unknown. But it shows no sign of stopping, and we are in its path – as are our allies. Rethwellan, Hardorn and Karse – even Jkatha has asked for our help.

"This army is at least twice as large – maybe three times – as anything we could field, even with the assistance of all of our allies, which has been already promised. Our options are limited. If we fight – we will likely be defeated, in which case we will all be killed, down to the smallest newborn kitten. We could also run; Valdemar is not its land, it is its people, and we could run north and try to outrun this enemy. But that would mean abandoning our allies to their destruction. The leader of this army claims to be a descendant of Ma'ar and following in his footsteps; we all know that evil creature has many descendants, and his mage Gift was quite formidable. A decision must be made, and made this day, because plans need to be set into motion immediately."

The table erupted. Everyone had an opinion; most wanted to run, and abandon the allies. This army terrified them, and no one wanted to enter a war where defeat was nearly inevitable. It would mean a winter march, over the mountains, which was difficult in the best of times. And to what purpose? They would likely lose, as Selenay had said. But if they ran, where would they go? The land north was entirely unknown. Its peoples were primitive, tribal, and the land was not terribly arable. Would they even be able to feed their population if they did successfully find a place to settle? And what if the army just continued to chase them, were they just delaying the inevitable? Taia sat back and did not join in the fray. She sat and looked at the map, examined the markers representing the advancing army and its location, the locations of the armies of their allies, the locations of their own army and the relative sizes of each. It was not looking promising at all, and with her best strategy she was fairly sure that Selenay was correct – this army was not defeatable. But they were forgetting one very simple fact.

She was Shin'a'in.

She sat forward slowly in her seat, not looking at anyone in particular – and the commotion around the table stopped. For a moment she was somewhat surprised by this; she was unaware that she commanded such respect that such a simple motion would grant her instant silence. But there was no time to examine that surprise, so she began.

"We could run," she began. Selenay looked briefly shocked, but covered well. "Selenay is right, this army is likely undefeatable, and Valdemar IS its people. Not its land. We could find a place far to the north, where we could settle again and begin again, far away from this enemy, and maybe this would work. Maybe this descendant of Ma'ar will exhaust himself, or become sated with the victories he already would hold over Jkatha, over Karse, over Rethwellan, over Hardorn, and Seejay and the Haighlei Empire – and maybe even Iftel and the Eastern Empire, wouldn't we be grateful to him for destroying the Eastern Empire? That's one thorn out of our side right there. Running is a very viable option.

"But we forget what Valdemar actually is. Valdemar is it's people, and not its land, but what does that really mean? Who are Valdemar's people? Well, to answer that, consider this: if we run, there are people who cannot run with us. The old, the young, the sick – and the just plain stubborn. Those people we leave defenseless, lambs to the slaughter. And who will defend them? The Heralds. The Heralds, because they can't stop themselves from sacrificing themselves for the people who either cannot or will not defend themselves. And they will, all of them, die. And what is Valdemar, if not its Heralds? What is Valdemar, if not the land that stands up for the people who cannot stand for themselves? What is Valdemar, if not the defense of the defenseless? What have we saved, if we run, and do not, in fact, do those things that define our very nature?

"We can run. But if we run, we sacrifice more than our land. We sacrifice more than our allies. We sacrifice more than the young, the old, the sick, who cannot come with us, and the stubborn who will not, and we sacrifice more than just the Heralds who will stay behind – Goddess love them – to defend those people. We sacrifice our honor. We sacrifice our identity. We sacrifice Valdemar in order to save her, and in the end save nothing. Sure, we can run. And maybe we should.

"I am Shin'a'in. I am not Valdemaran. I don't have to do anything but return to the Plains, or the Vales, and watch whatever you decide to do. I am not obligated to join you at all, regardless of your choice. But there's the rub – I am Shin'a'in. I do not run. Ever. Whatever you decide, I will be on the field fighting that enemy, even if I stand with nothing but my lifebonded and our birds. I will not die running away. I will not die on my knees. I will not sacrifice all that I am, all that I have worked for, so I can run like a coward from an enemy just because he's bigger than me. I believe we can win, if we all fight together like we have nothing to lose – because we don't. We've already lost it, if we run. And if we lose, let us lose standing up. Let us lose fighting for who and what we are, not in sacrificing it in the name of taking just another breath. And let us do it on this field, on the first day of spring, and let us be victorious – no matter the result."

She stabbed her knife down on the table on the part of the map she had chosen as their battlefield before she began to speak – and she turned and left the room.


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter twenty-nine**

Preparations were at an insane pace. The council, of course, in Taia's dramatic absence had voted unanimously to rouse the army and fight; there had been a few grumbles, but not many wanted to go against her. The plan was for the army to begin the march in one sennight, giving all Heralds out on circuit time to race back to join, passing the word along to all the towns along the way about the site chosen for the upcoming war and the need for anyone old enough and brave enough to swing a sword. No one under the age of sixteen would be accepted, but oldsters were welcome to take their chances if they wished. Taia and Whitestar themselves would Gate ahead to the Plains to recruit as many of the Shin'a'in as were willing to come; they would then Gate to k'Treva to bring whatever Tale'edras would join, and Taia would use their heartstone to Broadsend the rest of the Vales for their volunteers as well. Then they would Gate to wherever the army had progressed to and rejoin them. It was hoped that at least the majority of the army would arrive at the desired location at Midwinter, and the battles would begin at the first break of spring. That time would be spent integrating the army and training the raw recruits as much as possible, as well as strategizing and preparing weaponry.

But right now, Taia was addressing the troops themselves, preparing them for the hard march ahead. She was in full dress uniform, heavy with her medals and ribbons but more so with the responsibility she now bore. She had talked Valdemar into this fight; she had to find a way to win it. And maybe even survive.

"You troops of Valdemar have a heavy burden," she began. "You defend with your skills and with your lives the hopes and dreams of a people who live in ignorance of your sacrifice. They play with wooden swords and dream of glory, but we know that what they deem "glory" is the bloody death of our friends and comrades so that they can have the privilege of those dreams. And that is how it should be.

"But now we have a new challenge, a bigger challenge. Now we are tasked with saving the entire world. We are tasked with standing against a foe with numbers far greater than ours, and defeating him – though it likely will mean our deaths. If we refuse this task, we will die anyway; but we will do so at home in our beds, with our loved ones. That has its merits. But for me, I don't choose to die in my bed. I didn't spend all my years on the Plains training, practicing the sword, the bow, the knife, all the years in the Vales practicing magecraft – and I sure didn't spend all my years serving the Fire Eagles or with you fine folks so that I could die in my bed, cowering before my enemy. Of what good is it, that I should be gifted – and Gifted – in such a manner, only so that I might lie in my bed holding my spouse to bloody my sheets while innocents are likewise slaughtered for lack of my help?

"We swing these swords in the name of Valdemar so that those innocents on the streets don't have to. Because if someone has to fight, it ought to be the people who know how. Who know what they've signed on for. This is an enemy fit to test our scruples, and anyone who shudders at the test – well, so do we all. But stand under it we must. What good are scruples, if never tested? We may fail. We may all be slaughtered by this enemy. But we will do so standing up, for all of those children in the street dreaming of glory. Some of them are your very own children. So go home tonight, hug them tight, and hug your wives and your loved ones – for tomorrow, we march."

A cheer went up from the crowd. Taia left the podium and returned to the stables, where she was readying the herd for travel. The entire herd was leaving Valdemar – the ones she and Whitestar would take to battle, of course, would stay with them. The rest would be left with Wolf Clan; Taia was not under any delusions. She believed they could win – but she had no real idea how, yet. The chances were not good. And even if the army itself somehow won, the chances that she would survive were even slimmer. If what she had heard was true about this mage leading – controlling – the enemy army, the only thing likely to defeat him was a Final Strike – hers. Which would necessarily include Whitestar, as well.

But it couldn't be helped. If she had to sacrifice herself to save the world, well, she'd be doing exactly what she'd set out to do all those years ago, when she promised her sister that she would use what extraordinary Gifts she had been given in service to the Goddess, to make the world a better place. And not many could say they'd lived a better life than that. She would of course be riding Irix, primarily – one of Ishim's line, and Mikeh, one of Kyesh's – and would have three others. Whitestar would be riding Diyah, a deep chestnut mare with black mane, tail and forelegs, one of Kyesh's line, and Ixien, a white mare with grey tips descended of Iena – and, ironically, Myk, despite his black coat. She would also be bringing three additional horses as packhorses and backup mounts. The backup mounts would be Esen, a solid brown little fireball out of Cayen, Bieka, a grey dapple, Sikel, a brown and white pinto – these weould probably be Taia's backups. Yrslen, an unusually deep shade of grey colt, Rikle, a black and white pinto, and Sered, a black filly with chestnut undertones would likely be Whitestar's. The rest – particularly the retirees of previous battles – would be left under the capable care of the Shin'a'in who stayed on the Plains.

The sennight of packing and planning had gone by faster than anyone had any reason to believe it wouldn't have. Taia and Whitestar had packed up every bit of armor, every weapon they owned, plus the fletching supplies and the equipment needed to repair that armor and weaponry. They packed their clothing, as well as extra blankets and winter gear – this would, indeed, be a winter march. Just the sort of thing Taia had left the Fire Eagles to avoid, but there wasn't anything could be done about it. If they Gated to the battle location, they would only alert their enemy of their presence and give him yet one more advantage, in addition to the fact that they would then be too depleted to actually do anything to defend themselves when he arrived. And they couldn't Gate there after the rest of the army had arrived; Taia didn't believe in leading an army she wouldn't march with. So they would need to keep as warm as possible during the march and use as much padding and warmth as possible inside the tent to keep her joints limber. Taia wasn't looking forward to it, not one bit.

They left at the break of dawn on the seventh day. They had decided to all march out together for the first day, but on the morning of the second Taia and Whitestar would Gate to k'Treva. It made more geographical sense to go first to the Plains; but Taia was not looking forward to having to try and recruit Pretera'sedrin. The shaman was dead, but her mother was not. Her banishment had not been lifted. Still, it was necessary to recruit each Clan separately. So she would start with Wolf, of course, then Deer, then Bear, then Hawk – and finally Cat. She thought that part might be harder than the actual battle. So before the Plains, they went to the Vales.

The march was uneventful, at least. They made good progress on that first day, making their goal of a large field halfway to the Valdemar border where the army would camp for the night. It was hard on Taia's joints, but luckily they had kept more than one thick fur cloak – one of wolf, one of bear fur, and Taia wore them both. It was a bit cumbersome, but it was far superior to the misery she would have felt from shivering all day. She felt a little ridiculous; here were oldsters twice her age that didn't need the kind of extra warmth she did. But then, they hadn't had the injuries she had, either. The next morning, she and Whitestar Gated to k'Treva Vale to implore the help of Whitestar's kin.

Bluefeather was not happy. She was not happy at all. First, not only was her daughter going to go off in the dead of winter and fight some horde likely to kill them all, but now her son was as well? And even her very own husband was joining the mages in that effort? Could they not at least wait for good weather before they went off to die Noble Deaths? She supposed she might as well go and join them in the Healer's tents. Goddess only knew what kind of trouble they'd get into without her there to patch them up. In the end, all of the Tale'edras able to travel were willing to pick up and go, although they were going to Gate there rather than ride. Scouts would fight in skirmishing groups; mages and Healers – well, they would be mages and Healers. The only members to stay behind were the mothers of children and oldsters unable to travel, but they would stay behind to keep the Vales functioning. Even some of the hertasi - mostly those of the k'Leshya Clan, who were already considerably more outgoing than the other Vales – volunteered; they said if they couldn't help with the fighting, they would be able to help keep the fighters fed, the clothing mended and the camp clean. And the contingent of gryphons joining the fight was most welcome. It would be interesting to see how they fought next to the Iftel delegation.

As with the mage storms, Iftel recognized a danger that threatened them as well as the rest of the nations. After the mage storms, the communications and diplomacy between Iftel and Valdemar, and particularly Karse when they realized they shared a religion, had developed slowly, but surely. They wouldn't declare themselves fully allies at this point; but in the face of such an extraordinarily destructive force as the approaching army, Iftel had decided that it was in their best interest to throw their lot in with the rest of the allies. The Iftel warriors fought by division, though; the gryphons fought in a "wing", a unit comprised of twenty-one gryphons commanded by a leader, and the human and ratha divisions were similarly organized. They had agreed to join the effort and work with the strategists to fight the enemy but would not integrate with the allied armies. Still, Taia would be grateful for their help, and was sure that this would not be a problem.

They stayed with k'Treva as long as they dared. Partly this was to visit and help prepare; but it was also because Taia was really not looking forward to her confrontation with Minka. In the end, it could not be delayed indefinitely; this war wasn't going to wait for Taia's personal difficulties to resolve. So they Gated to the very edge of the Plains – magic was being used on the Plains again, but Taia didn't want to take any chances – and rode towards the nearest Shin'a'in camp. They had planned on visiting Clans in order of their personal familiarity with them, but this time of year that wasn't particularly feasible; they each had their own territories, but being nomads they moved within them throughout the year. At this time of year, Liha'irden – Deer Clan – was nearest. The visit went well, but was short; since Taia did not personally know anyone in this Clan, she merely presented the problem and the request to the Clan Elders and gave them the information they would need in order to send their promised delegation.

Next was Tale'sedrin – Hawk Clan – which was the Clan made up of orphans, descendants of the she'enedra Kethry, who was Kerowyn's grandmother. This was how Tale'sedrin ended up with blonde and green-eyed Shin'a'in. They were quick to welcome any friend of cousin Kero's, and promised to send everyone they could spare as quickly as possible. Next up – For'a'hier, Falcon Clan, which was a similar visit as Liha'irden; Taia again knew no one, but they promised a delegation as well. For'a'hier was the home of a particularly large number of Kal'enedral, so their delegation would be particularly welcome. Jor'ethan, Bear Clan, was next. They did remember Taia and Ale'shaya from their first visit with Kiri, and promised a delegation as well. They also agreed a contingent of kyree fighters, being the Clan closest to the kyree stronghold. After Jor'ethan – Vuy she'edras, Wolf Clan, Brandi's home, which would send everyone they had available; including, of course, Brandi and Jacqui, who decided to pack up immediately and ride along with Taia and Whitestar ahead of their Clan. They stayed a day longer here, since it was as close to a Shin'a'in home as Taia would ever have again, and also – because the only Clan left to visit was Pretera'sedrin. Cat Clan.

Brandi and Jacqui did not choose to accompany Taia to Cat Clan. Instead, they took a little more time packing and said they would catch up at Kata'shin'a'in, from which they had decided to Gate back to the army. It was near Cat Clan's camp site at this time of year anyway, and Brandi had no desire to find out whether or not Minka had softened towards her at all. She thought it was unlikely at best, but even had Minka been willing – it had been too long. The wound was too deep. Brandi had long ago let go of her anger, but had no wish to reconcile. Neither did Taia; but she needed the warriors of all the Clans, not just the ones who would still speak to her.

So she and Ale'shaya rode in on their best horses, in their best gear. Brandi and Jacqui had taken the rest of their horses with them, just in case Taia and Ale'shaya needed to make a quick getaway, and also so that Pretera'sedrin could not try to lay claim to any of them. They were excellent mounts, well trained, and attractive; Taia wasn't sure what would happen if the Clan tried to take them. She was certain her horses would obey her above the Clan – but there would be confusion, there would likely be injuries, and her horses were laden with all their battle gear – not exactly ready to fight and make a clean escape. She had no idea what to expect from her Clan, but wasn't taking any chances.

Taia did her best to ride with all the confidence of a successful mercenary captain, a powerful mage, and the commander of all the allied armies; but she felt more like a little girl going home hoping to avoid a spanking for some misdeed. Nevermind the fact that she had not actually committed a misdeed. She knew the shaman was dead, and for that she was enormously grateful; Andrien was there, and at least wouldn't shun her, and Kiri was here as well, she had heard. It should be alright. The worst thing that could possibly happen was she'd have to ride out at a gallop before the arrows started flying, and Kiri would at least make an effort to keep them from hitting her…oh, why was she being so pessimistic? It could very well be a real homecoming….

Until she saw the new shaman.

He looked like any other Shin'a'in, were it not for the white hair. But those eyes. She would know those eyes anywhere, and they nearly stopped her cold. She did, in fact, stop for a minute, and started trembling to the point where her horse started to shy and nearly bolted – until her panic began to transmit through the lifebond. Ale'shaya realized what was happening and immediately used projective Empathy to calm her lifebonded.

This was An'desha. Kerowyn had told them about him before they left, in the event that they should run into him; his had been the body that the spirit known as Mornelithe Falconsbane had inhabited. Kerowyn had told her how Falconsbane was actually Ma'ar – the enemy of Urtho centuries ago during the Mage Wars. He had figured out a way to "store" his spirit in the Void between Gates, and when one of his descendants set a certain spell for the first time – he rushed into the body and took over, usually killing the spirit that had lived there before. But An'desha's spirit had not died, it had lived in a tiny corner of Falconsbane's mind, undetected – but also powerless to stop him. Until Tre'valen and Dawnfire, the Goddess' own Avatars, taught him some techniques so that he could help to defeat Falconsbane before the Valdemaran group had set off to finally kill him. For his help, the Goddess herself had restored An'desha his own body, just as it had been before Ma'ar took over – except for the eyes. The eyes were those catlike slits that Taia remembered, the eyes that were the basis of all her nightmares. An'desha had assisted in Valdemar and with the mage storms, and ultimately he had become a shaman to the Clans; but Kerowyn didn't know for which Clan. Apparently it just happened to be the only Clan that Taia was already afraid to visit. She had been so nervous about running into Minka she hadn't realized she had yet to run into An'desha, and so of course he would be here….

"Do you want to go back?" said Ale'shaya. "It's likely that the delegation Pretera'sedrin might send wouldn't make the difference in the war. We could even send a written message to Kiri by way of the birds. It's certainly an option."

Taia thought about that, but steeled her resolve and declined. "No," she said. "I can't run from this forever. This is a request that needs to be made in person if at all possible; and as much as I truly do not want to meet this An'desha, he is in fact a powerful mage and we…..we need him."

"Ok," said Ale'shaya. "I'm going to help you keep your nerve, though. It's what little I can do."

"Thanks, love, I'm going to need all the help I can get," said Taia.

She squared her shoulders, lifted her chin and set her jaw. She would accomplish this. She would face this man. He was not Falconsbane; he was An'desha, as Shin'a'in as she was. She could do this. They rode slowly and silently towards the camp, where An'desha simply waited, making no moves either welcoming nor threatening. When they had arrived within speaking range, Taia cleared her throat.

"I am Taia shena Pretera'sedrin k'Treva," she said, willing her voice not to shake. "This is my lifebonded, Ale'shaya k'Treva Pretera'sedrin. We have come to make a request of the Clan Pretera'sedrin."

"I am An'desha," said the shaman. "You are banished. On what authority do you make this request of the Clan that is not your home?"

"I make this request on my own authority," said Taia. "On the authority of a world about to be destroyed by an oncoming army that cares not for the borders or traditions of the Plains people. As for my banishment, the reason for it is no longer valid, a condition that you yourself benefit from."

"You have also declared your own mother Oathbreaker," said An'desha. "Is this not reason to be banished?"

"She is Oathbreaker," said Taia. "There is no greater Oath than that of a mother to love and care for her child, and yet she allowed me to be starved and abandoned for the same Gifts that you yourself possess, rather than follow the traditions of our people. It is for that I declare her Oathbreaker, and I will do it again if I must."

An'desha stared at her for a long while. Then he nodded. "Your request will be heard by the Elders. It is not for me alone to determine its value," he said. "You will make your camp here, outside the borders of the Clan."

They set up their camp quietly and quickly. Kiri and Andrien came out to greet them briefly, bringing vegetables and bread to supplement the rabbits the birds had caught and they shared a meal. The presentation of their request would take place first thing in the morning.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter thirty**

Taia and Ale'shaya stood before the Pretera'sedrin council, Taia rigid with the effort it took to maintain control of her body and her voice to keep either one from shaking. Whitestar was supplementing her efforts by projecting calm and comfort through the lifebond, but it was going to be an exhausting day nonetheless. And that was just the presentation; Taia was fairly sure there would be some form of confrontation with Minka at some point.

"An army advances," Taia said. "An army which is mage-controlled, destroying everything in its wake. It is larger than any army we have ever seen, and the armies of Valdemar, Karse, Hardorn and Rethwellan, Jkatha and the delegations of Iftel cannot match it for size. The Tale'edras cousins have sent their scouts and many of their mages; the other Shin'a'in Clans have all promised delegations of their warriors, including the Kal'enedral. We ask your assistance as well."

"And why should we aid you, a banished member, who declared her own mother Oathbreaker? What do we owe you?" asked one of the elders. Taia flushed briefly with rage – she couldn't help but be angry that she was hated, and her mother was not.

"This is not a favor to me," she replied icily. "To see this as only a personal request from me is shortsighted, ignorant and not worthy of a Shin'a'in elder. This army isn't attacking me. It's attacking everything in its path – Ruvan, Seejay, the Haighlei – all in its path, all likely to be defeated before we can even attempt to aid them. It will progress through Jkatha, if left unchecked – and an army that can do that, are you really going to trust only in the walls of the Plains to protect you? Or throw up your hands and beg the Goddess? It is well known that the Star-Eyed only helps those who have already done everything they can for themselves, but by not sending a delegation, has Pretera'sedrin done anything at all? And do you really want to be the only Clan unwilling to send one?"

"Enough," said An'desha. Taia was surprised that he would be the one to respond, but didn't flinch. "How do you know this army advances? How can you claim to know its size, its strength?"

"I am a mage, as are you. It is for this I was banished, and not sent to the Tale'edras cousins as is our custom. The fact that you use my banishment as evidence against me, but not the reason for it shows your ignorance. I also have the Gift of Farsight, a particularly strong one. I can see this army. Add to that a few decades of experience fighting with and being Captain of one of the most reputable mercenary troupes around – well, I think I'm capable of judging the strength of an army. All I would actually need is to look at the damage they leave behind them. Do you not share this ability, or are you not the mage I was told you were?" Taia replied. It was a double-edged question. She was both questioning An'desha's abilities – as well as his identity as something other than Ma'ar or Falconsbane, and he knew it. He stared at her for a long while, with a blank expression on his face – Taia thought maybe she read a little shock, even a little shame, but she resisted the urge to use her Empathy to find out for sure – and then he looked away.

"We will send our delegation," he said. There were gasps around the table, but he silenced them with a gesture. "We will send our delegation, but they will not integrate with your army. They will fight with other Shin'a'in divisions or not at all."

"They will also cooperate with the strategy of the army as a whole, and not get in the way, or I will attack them myself," said Taia. "I'm sure you've heard of my field reputation."

"That I have," said An'desha. "Very well."

Taia gave them the details of where the planned battlefield was and when they would be expected to arrive and left the meeting. She and Ale'shaya walked back towards their camp, hoping to get a bit of a ride in away from the Pretera'sedrin before running into anyone else; but it was not to be.

"Taia shena Pretera'sedrin k'Treva," said An'desha. Apparently, he had followed her out of the tent. She turned around, but did not reply.

"I believe I have been misinformed by your Clansmen regarding the nature of your banishment," he said. "Please, if it is not too much to ask, I would like to hear your story."

Well if this wasn't a surprise.

"I was an ordinary Shin'a'in until I was about twelve," she said. "I have a prodigious number of Gifts – mage Gift, Fetching, Farsight, Mindspeech, Empathy, a tiny bit of Firestarting and a vanishingly small Healing Gift – and they all manifested at once. I don't know how much you know of the previous shaman of this tribe but he was….unconventional. He led the people to believe that I was possessed, and instead of coping with my Gifts according to the Shin'a'in tradition, I was left alone for a year in a small tent, fed only periodically while the Clan decided whether to execute or banish me."

An'desha had the decency to blanch.

"I was rescued by my sister Brandi, who had been previously banished for being she'chorne – you didn't know he taught against that as well, did you? – but who had the courage to come back and attempt to convince the Clan to do the right thing. She could not, and so she strapped me to my horse and took me to k'Treva."

"I see," said An'desha. "And how did you come to declare your own mother Oathbreaker?"

"After being trained by the Tale'edras mages and lifebonded to Ale'shaya, I returned to visit my sister Brandi. I did not use magic of any kind while on the Plains with the exception of my shields. I decided while here to also visit my sister Kiri, and I attempted to visit my sister Andrien as well, and perhaps even my mother," Taia replied. "Andrien was yet a child, and she was kept inside the tent with my mother while the shaman banished me a second time for being shay'a'chern. Minka would not even come out of the tent to look me in the eye. It was then that I declared her Oathbreaker; not for banishing me, either for the mage Gift or for the she'chorne – but for abandoning me to be starved in a tent, for allowing the Clan to actively discuss my execution or banishment – which in the state I was in at the time, would have amounted to the same thing – when I was yet a child, and hers to boot. There is no greater oath than the one to care for one's children, and that is the one she broke."

"I was told…a somewhat different story," said An'desha. "I had no idea that Pretera'sedrin was that far gone under the previous shaman. I hereby revoke your banishment and reinstate you as full member of Pretera'sedrin, for whatever that may be worth to you."

"It is…..worth more than I thought it would be, after this many years. Thank you," Taia said.

"I believe you have been told who…..what…..I was," said An'desha.

Taia shuddered involuntarily.

"If I had not, I would know your eyes anywhere," said Taia. "Had Kerowyn not explained to me what happened – I would have killed you where you stood upon arriving."

"I imagine you would have, and with good reason," said An'desha. "I know Kerowyn told you about me. But I would still like to apologize, though I know an apology is hardly sufficient. I could not stop him. I wish I could have, but I could not. There is nothing I can do to make that right, and I feel I would be insulting you if I should try. But nonetheless…"

Taia said nothing. There was nothing to say. An'desha was correct – words would never undo the damage Falconsbane had done to her, but at the same time An'desha – while he shared those eyes, and while she doubted that they would ever be friends or even comfortable together – she could not hold An'desha responsible for Falconsbane's actions. So she merely nodded, turned, and walked away.

Taia and Ale'shaya did get that ride through the Plains. It didn't provide a complete relief of the tension they were feeling, but it did help. They rode out a candlemark until they reached a stream, where they watered the horses as well as themselves and enjoyed each other's company without the watchful eye of the Pretera'sedrin beneath the trees. They hoped to return to their own camp in peace and leave the Plains the next morning without incident – but of course, that was wishful thinking.

Minka was standing there in front of their tent.

Taia barely recognized her; she hadn't seen her mother since she was fourteen years old. That was a lifetime past; indeed, so much had happened to her in the preceding decades that she barely remembered that terrified child she had once been. But seeing her mother again – for just a moment, she was that terrified fourteen-year-old girl, with no idea what was happening to her. All she knew was that one day she was beloved of the Clan and of her family, riding the Plains with her friends on Myk, the first horse she had raised from a foal – and the next she was abandoned, delirious in a tent with the entire Clan plotting her execution and her mother doing nothing to stop them, even encouraging them in their madness.

They walked the horses to the camp slowly. Taia wasn't really sure what was going to happen here; she wasn't even sure what she wanted to happen. Part of her was that scared fourteen-year-old girl who just wanted her mother to hug her, tell her she loved her and make everything okay again the way mothers can always do for their children. Part of her wanted to send her mother away and make her feel as abandoned and rejected as Taia herself had felt so long ago, and in truth still did feel. And a third part of her didn't particularly care what happened.

They took their time unsaddling the horses and giving them the thorough rubdown they deserved. They gave them their grain and placed their blankets over their backs for the night. They checked on the rest of the horses and even checked in with the birds. Finally, they could stall no longer, and walked up to their tent.

"You stand in front of my tent," said Taia. "Move."

"You put your tent on my Clan land," said Minka. "Be gone. You were banished, you are not welcome here."

"My banishment has been removed," said Taia. "Your hatefulness has been overruled. Move."

"I am hateful? You declared me Oathbreaker! Your own mother!"

"You abandoned me to be killed! Your own daughter!" said Taia.

"You are possessed by a demon! It was for your own good!" said Minka.

"I have a mage Gift, it is hardly possession! It is rare among the Shin'a'in, but hardly unheard of! How could you have advocated for the execution of your own daughter, for a normal, uncontrollable Gift – when I was a child? Why could you not have simply followed the custom of our people, and sent me to the Tale'edras yourself?!" said Taia.

"You were possessed!" repeated Minka. "It is proven, by your bonding with this – female – an unnatural, perverted relationship, detested by the Goddess! I should have killed you with my own hand!"

Taia went white. Her blood ran cold. This was not a reunion that could result in anything other than more pain. And the longer she allowed it to continue – the more pain there would be. She wasn't sure she could handle any more. And – magic was no longer forbidden on the Plains. So she spun a lightning bolt and held it up as if to throw at her mother. She of course didn't need to use such physical movements as appearing to "throw" the bolt; like all mages above the level of Apprentice, she could simply make them appear and shoot at the intended victim. For appearances sake, however – it was important for Minka to be aware of exactly where this bolt originated. To her credit, Minka stopped her rant and went white – but did not move.

"You will remove yourself from my tent or you will be removed. Your choice," said Taia coldly.

"Then remove me," said Minka. Taia was about to hurl the lightning bolt when Kiri rode up on her horse.

"This ends," she said. "Minka has behaved abominably towards two of her four children and poisoned the mind of a third. Minka, you deserve the title of Oathbreaker, for you have banished two of your children, for things not of their control, for things not against the Star-Eyed, and against the tradition of your Clan. You have followed the teachings of an Outlander and fanatical shaman at the expense of your children, and to the detriment of your Clan. For that I, Kiri shena Pretera'sedrin, Kal'enedral, declare that you shall no longer have any say in the happenings of this Clan. I do not banish you. Neither do I accept you. You will be housed and fed and no more. You will speak and not be heard. You will walk through the tents and not be seen. You will hold out your arms for embrace and find them empty. You will find no greater welcome at any other Clan, for all have heard of your behavior and none want anything to do with you. Begone, you, to your own tent, and leave this one alone."

Taia was stunned to silence, the lightning bolt dissipating from her hands. But before she could say anything at all, Kiri herded Minka back to her own tent. Taia and Ale'shaya were both shocked, but couldn't argue with the turn of events. They spent a largely restless night in their tent – and packed before the break of dawn, planning to leave at first light. Taia did not want to be anywhere near Pretera'sedrin any longer than she had to be, whether or not her banishment had been removed.

Before they could leave, however, Kiri rode up.

"I had a feeling you'd be leaving as quickly as you could. You weren't really going to kill her, were you?" she asked.

"No, of course not!" said Taia, a little annoyed that her twin sister would think that, despite the scene she had ridden in on the day before. "I had planned on dissipating the lightening bold just before it hit her. I was angry enough to kill her, but come on Kiri, I have more self control than that! I could never survive in a mercenary troupe, much less captain one if I didn't!"

"I didn't really think you would, I was just wondering what your plan had been," Kiri replied. "I wanted to let you know that Andrien will be among the delegation of warriors coming to fight. She wants out from Minka's control, but more than that she wants to try her wings. She's packing as we speak, actually – she plans to leave even ahead of the delegation, as do I. We – neither of us – want to fight under Pretera'sedrin's banner. We were hoping you would tell me where the battlefield is, so that we can travel ahead of the Clan."

"I might be able to do better than that," said Taia. "How quickly can the two of you be ready?" asked Taia.

"A few candlemarks," said Kiri. "A Kal'enedral is always ready to ride off to battle, I can surely help Andrien be ready faster than she would be alone."

"We will wait until midmorning," said Taia. "We can ride together, if you like. Brandi and Jacqui are leaving ahead of their delegation as well, and are meeting us in Kata'shin'a'in – we can make it a family affair!"

"That sounds lovely," said Kiri. "We will be here in three candlemarks." She turned and rode back towards the Clan.

Life was full of surprises.


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter thirty-one**

Taia was getting anxious. The three candlemarks had come and gone, and Kiri and Andrien were nowhere in sight. She didn't want to leave them behind if they were coming, but she certainly couldn't wait forever. Her horses and Ale'shaya's were loaded up and ready to go, and just as she was about to give up and leave without her sisters she heard the galloping of horses behind her. She turned, ready to defend herself – it was always possible that Minka could raise an army among the Pretera'sedrin loyal to her and attack, regardless of Kiri's pronouncement – but it was only Kiri and Andrien. They each had their mounts and two backup mounts serving as packhorses, coming at a gallop. Taia was alarmed that perhaps they were being chased, but Kiri was smiling and waving so she relaxed.

"Sorry we're late," Kiri said. "Minka tried to stop Andrien at the last minute, and it took awhile to get past her."

"It's my fault," said Andrien. "I'm sorry. I – want to come, I know she's been horrible, but – "

"But she's your mother, and for most of your life you have been each other's only family," said Ale'shaya. "It is easily understood, and nothing to be ashamed of. Now. Let us be off, and be done with it."

They rode on at a fast walk. They weren't in a hurry; when they got to Kata'shin'a'in Taia would use Farsight to locate the army, and then they would Gate to that spot. It wasn't as if they had to meet them at a particular point. So they didn't hurry, but they didn't dither around, either. The weather was good; the snow hadn't started to fall this far south yet, but it was a little bit cold out. The sun was shining, though, so when they were moving it was just perfect. The horses were ready for a good long ride and the birds were happy to be traveling again; they hated being cooped up in one place.

:Nothing to do: complained Ryki whenever they were stopped in one place for too long. :No good hunting:

:No scenery: complained Sera about Valdemar. :Buildings. Only buildings. No fields, no rabbits, only buildings.:

Taia tended to agree. As much as she enjoyed the comforts of warm buildings and no long marches in the winter in Valdemar; she was a nomad by heritage and by habit. She had spent the majority of her life moving around, not staying in one place for too long, and never too far to walk before finding wilderness again when she did. She was not happy to be going off for a war she wasn't sure how to win; but she was glad to be on the move. Today, anyway, she was glad; winter was coming, however, and would hit them on the road. Any day now, really. And then – then, she would miss Valdemar and her warm rooms. Her joints would, particularly.

They spent the day getting to know each other again. Andrien was still a little distant to Ale'shaya, but she didn't ignore her outright anymore. It was progress.

"Kiri said that the two of you want to serve directly under me, and not under Pretera'sedrin. Is that correct?" Taia asked Andrien.

"Yes," said Andrien. "I don't know if I want to stay a member of Pretera'sedrin. It's getting better, I think, but – from what Kiri tells me, it has strayed so far from the other Shin'a'in Clans…..I don't even know if we still qualify as Shin'a'in anymore. I would at least like to see what it's like in one of the other Clans, so I know what's "normal". But that's only if….."

"If we survive. Yes. Well – I'm going to do the best I can to ensure that we do," said Taia. "But the odds are against us, I'm not going to lie to you."

"I don't want you trying to keep me safe," said Andrien. "I don't want you to treat me any differently than any other soldier."

"I hadn't planned on it," said Taia. "I don't have that luxury. But no matter what I ask you to do, you have to follow my orders. No arguments. Or I'll Gate you back to the Plains, battle or no. And that goes for both of you."

"I will," said Andrien. Kiri just looked at her a little strangely, but nodded her head.

"It's still strange for me to think of you as the commander of so many armies," said Kiri. "It's hard to think of any of us going off the Plains to fight a war next to Outlanders, but stranger to think of my goofy twin sister commanding the army."

"Almost as strange as it is to think of my clumsy twin a black-clad Kal'enedral," said Taia.

"I've never been clumsy!" argued Kiri.

"Oh yeah? So it's just a coincidence the entire stack of hay fell over just as you walked past and happened to trip over it, right?" joked Taia.

"You know Jarim pushed me into that hay pile!" said Kiri.

"Jarim? Oh yes, that was Jarim, wasn't it," said Taia. "Now the Shin'a'in ambassador to Valdemar, he's quite the fanatic himself. Ironic, really, that the Clan most non-representative of the Plains is the one sending the ambassador."

"How is that going, anyway? Is he at least doing a good job?" asked Kiri.

"He got better when that shaman came to assist him," said Taia. "He caused the Karsite ambassador quite the problem, I'm told, in the past but he's gotten beyond that."

"Good," said Kiri. "I was concerned, since he is such a fanatic, that he would really cause us – and Valdemar – quite the problem. But I'm glad he's settled down and is doing a better job."

They spent the rest of the ride reminiscing about their time on the Plains. They also talked about what life was like in the Vales; Taia made sure to give them both very accurate descriptions of the baths. They were both quite impressed, although neither could really understand the idea of living confined to a Vale and not an open Plain. Even more confusing was how anyone could live inside the stone walls of Valdemar's palace. Even the mudbrick hut Taia and Ale'shaya had lived in at the mercenary stronghold was strange to them; they had lived in tents their whole lives. Only left the Plains briefly during the evacuation when An'desha and the rest had stopped the mage storms – and that was a short interlude, when they pitched their tents just inside k'Sheyna's veil and didn't really leave them.

They arrived at Kata'shin'a'in in the early evening, and arranged for the care of their horses at the inn. Brandi and Jacqui were already there waiting at a table, and they were surprised to see Kiri and Andrien come in alongside Taia and Ale'shaya.

"Well, fancy seeing you here! It's a regular reunion of the Minka rejects!" joked Brandi.

"We thought we'd come along and make sure you two don't get into too much trouble," said Kiri.

"More like you could get into the fun with us and steal all the glory," joked Jacqui.

"Ha! You all know perfectly well I'm the only one getting any glory here," said Taia.

"Only if I don't steal it," said Ale'shaya.

"Damn, I'm just hoping to get in on anything," said Andrien, looking a little unsure. They all laughed.

"Are you really sure you want in on any of this?" joked Brandi. "We're insane, you know. But sit down, little sister. All my little sisters. Dinner is on its way, and we shall eat ourselves happy and drink ourselves silly this night before we head off to our certain deaths."

"I see you have complete confidence in my abilities," joked Taia.

"Oh, complete confidence. I just also have confidence in the other guy," said Brandi. "But if anyone can beat him – it's you, my prodigiously gifted sister."

They all laughed and sat down for dinner. It was good to be all together again, to joke about old times and make fun of the battle ahead. In the morning they would Gate themselves to the rest of the army to begin their march toward reality. But tonight – they were just a family enjoying a meal.

The next morning they loaded the horses back up and rode out past the edge of Kata'shin'a'in. Taia and Whitestar linked their magic through the lifebond and built the Gate. This time, all those accompanying them had seen a Gate before so there were no gasps of surprise when the "blank" space appeared followed by the clearing a few leagues from the marching army. Brandi and Jacqui were first through with their mounts and backups, then Kiri and Andrien with theirs. Ryki, Sera, Syen and Tyke followed, with Taia and Whitestar close behind with their backup mounts on leads tied to their reins. They tumbled through the Gate and into the clearing and took down the Gate immediately; it was an enormous distance to cover, enough that very few other mages they knew of would have been able to accomplish it, and those would be incapacitated for at least a day afterwards. They were able to do it without being incapacitated themselves only because they were able to share energy – and only that because of the lifebond.

As it was, they paused for a few minutes to recover before beginning to ride in the direction of the army. They reunited with them at midday; Taia was pleased to note the number of recruits along the way and the Heralds that had managed to catch up.

"Good of you to join us," said Kerowyn as they approached.

"Good of you to let us," replied Taia.

"News from the cousins?" asked Kerowyn.

"The Tale'edras are sending delegations of mages as well as fighters – even gryphons – that will do well as skirmishers, mostly. The Shin'a'in – even my recalcitrant Clan – are sending delegations as well, including most of the Kal'enedral and the kyree," said Taia.

"Well, I'd say that's a resounding success," said Kerowyn. "With their help, we might survive to lick our wounds after the first engagement!"

"Oh, I have a few ideas," said Taia. "I'm thinking between the two of us, we should be able to devise enough clever strategies to last at least a week."

"Maybe," said Kerowyn. "Although, it depends on your definition of 'last'. Do we have all our limbs still attached?"

"Oh, certainly," said Taia. "And we're only missing half our eyes."

They both laughed. The humor was morbid, for sure; but they both knew the chances of actual victory were not great. And even if they did win the war – the chances of their individual survival were worse. Particularly when their mutual tendency to throw themselves in front of a flying mace, for example, in defense of the rest of their troupe was taken into account. Neither of them embraced death, or defeat; but neither was unrealistic about it, either. In order to maintain their courage, humor was employed.

They marched until evening, then made a quick camp. The new recruits were gathered in groups and Kerowyn, Taia and Jeri drilled them so that maybe they wouldn't be quite so green on the day of the first battle. Taia planned on utilizing them in the middle of the divisions alternating with veterans so that they would be less likely to turn and run, and also so that they would be more likely to survive. She was dismayed at how young they were – some barely more than children. She was also dismayed at how old some of them were – grizzled with hair as white as hers, and not from magic. But every sword was needed in this fight. Every bow, every sickle, every hammer and axe. She could not afford to be picky, although if it had not been so, she would have sent at least a third of them home.

They marched for several days. It grew colder; Taia grew stiffer in the mornings, having to drag her body out from under the blankets before anyone else just to warm up her joints enough to move freely. On days it snowed, Whitestar had to employ a warming spell to keep her warm enough just to loosen her joints. But one sennight it was particularly bad; freezing rain interspersed with snow, wind, and generally cold; Taia was miserable. She rode huddled into her mount's back as much as she could with Sera huddled up in front of her to try and help her stay warm. She sat quietly, trying not to shiver, trying to maintain some kind of dignity, with her wolfskin boots with rabbit fur lining, rabbit fur double-layer gloves, bearskin and wolfskin cloaks stuffed with feathers, wolfskin hat and double-layer rabbit fur leggings and tunic with a woolen layer in between. She even had a rabbit fur scarf across her face to try and warm the air before it got into her lungs to freeze her bones from the inside. Under her leggings and tunic she wore woolen smallclothes, but she was still miserably cold and in pain.

It didn't help one bit that some of the younger lieutenants kept riding up to ask her questions, to discuss the route, to just make small talk; it was all she could do to continue riding upright, the last thing she needed was to have to actually move her hand, pull the scarf away from her face, turn to look at the speaker and respond. She thought she could hear the actual creaking in her joints sometimes. Finally, on the third day, after the most recent lieutenant came up to just be friendly – Taia looked plaintively at Whitestar to help.

"If you don't mind, lieutenant, the commander prefers to be alone with her thoughts in weather such as this," Whitestar said.

"This little storm? Surely, a fighter of her caliber – " the lieutenant began.

"A fighter of her caliber has earned the right to not be questioned, don't you think?" replied Whitestar. "And when you have fought as many battles as this one, I still hope you don't have cause to understand how weather such as this can affect a person."

The lieutenant saluted and rode off, looking confused. Taia hated having to send them away, hated the appearance of weakness – but her bones hurt. Every time she had to move any of them was excruciating.

"This is ridiculous," she muttered behind her scarf. "I'm going to fix this problem, at least for the time being."

She worked a warming spell into her shields and wondered why she hadn't done this sooner. It took some energy, yes, but she thought that it wouldn't be so much she couldn't regenerate it overnight. Within a candlemark she was able to sit up a bit straighter, and within another Sera was able to fly up with the other birds.

"Well, that certainly looks like an improvement," observed Whitestar.

"I hope it doesn't use any more energy than I can recuperate overnight, but if it doesn't – this weather can't last forever, and I have to look like an actual commander – not some sodden down, can't even handle a horseback ride in the rain Shin'a'in rat," said Taia.

"I can supplement some of the energy you're using, as well, and then between the two of us, we shouldn't have to use more than we can recuperate," said Whitestar.

They did manage to survive the week of the freezing rain, only to enter in to riding through blizzards and snowstorms. Taia kept her warming spell on, though, and while it used slightly more energy than the two of them could recuperate overnight, Taia decided it was worth it since she felt that every day she rode hunched over in misery was another day she lost the respect and trust of the soldiers following her. And this was not a war she could afford to lose anything at all.

Finally, after almost a moon, the weather cleared. It was still cold, but the sun was out, and the wind was gone. She still had to get up earlier to warm up her joints but her many cloaks and furs were warm enough to keep her reasonably comfortable throughout the day without the spells. This was a good thing; it would take about another moon to arrive at the campsite she had chosen for their army, and she and Whitestar both needed to be at full mage strength on arrival.

She was going to start this epic war with an epic shield. She had decided that in the event that they lost the war, any survivors would need a place to go to hopefully avoid being slaughtered. She had been experimenting with new shields before the war was announced; she was going to design a shield to encompass the campsite which would be similar to the Vales the Tale'edras lived in. The Vales would not let anyone through their shielding that the shield itself did not 'recognize'; however, in order to power such an enormous structure, the Tale'edras utilized a heartstone. Taia wouldn't have a heartstone, and creating one required more energy, more time and more mages than she had available to her. She was instead going to build this shield and tie it to the life force of every single person in their camp, including the trees. This should ensure that not only could the enemy not utilize her trademark night attacks on her, but that in the event of her death, the shield would survive. It would continue to survive until the last of their number was gone, although it would shrink to a size that could be maintained by nothing more than what the inhabitants' energy levels could support. This had never been tried before, and she was a little bit nervous about it; she knew it would work, but wasn't quite sure whether or not she had the skill to do it.

But she was certainly going to try.


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter thirty-two**

They arrived at the designated area for the camp on a cold, cloudless day. They spent the rest of the day setting up their semi-permanent tents; this camp was going to be here for at least several months, so it made sense to lay it out in a manner that was convenient for its inhabitants, as well as make the tents a bit more sturdy and weather-resistant than they needed to be for just one night. Taia and Whitestar unloaded the horses and Whitestar unpacked their tent and began organizing their belongings while Taia gave all eight horses a good rubdown and grooming. She also got them settled in to the giant tent that would serve as a stable of sorts with their grain and water, put their blankets over their backs and helped the grooms with the hay and grass bedding. She arranged their tack and armor sets in the tent designed for that purpose and returned to her own tent to assist Whitestar in making their tent a home.

They unwrapped the packs containing the weaponry – at least the weaponry they hadn't been carrying on their bodies – and placed them with their armor on the folding rack they brought from Valdemar for the purpose. They unfolded their bedding and placed it on one side of the tent, opposite their weaponry, and Taia dug a firepit in the middle of the tent for warmth. Then she went out and collected some rocks to mark the edge of the pit and some firewood. When she returned Whitestar had arranged their clothing in the bags they had been packed in so that they would be easily accessible and their few foodstuffs and spices as well. They traveled in style, having both the horses to carry their belongings and the long history of living on the road as mercenaries. Taia used her small firestarting Gift to start the fire in the firepit while Whitestar placed the perches for the birds and activated the spell that kept the tent warm and soundproof. By this time, all four birds had returned with the results of their hunting efforts – a small warthog, the ever-present rabbits and Syen had found a deer – and they began preparing the meat. There was plenty to share with the camp, so after skinning the animals and taking their share plus what the birds themselves wanted, Taia delivered the rest to the hertasi and the camp cooks to supplement what they would be serving the rest of the army, in exchange for some bread, while Whitestar spiced and roasted their dinner.

"I am glad the travel is over, but not looking forward to the war," said Taia.

"Have you devised your strategy yet?" asked Whitestar.

"I have some ideas, but nothing solid yet. I wish we could still muster enough energy to create earthquakes so we could divide their enemy, but I don't think we can without using up the entire mage corps for a sennight," Taia said.

"We could do it ourselves, perhaps, every few days. But then we wouldn't be available on the field those days," said Whitestar.

"That's very true," said Taia. "And I think we should. Maybe Firesong can help, make us more available. He has enough power."

"He does. What about that An'desha character?" asked Whitestar.

"I imagine he could, too. Maybe that's what the two of them should focus on, while the rest of the mage corps does whatever they are able to do. That would leave us free on the field. I will be creating illusions while we fight, as well, and whatever else I can muster," said Taia.

"That's a good idea. As much as we can do as mages, I rather think your presence on the battlefield is more important, for morale as well as fighting ability. And where you go – there go I," said Whitestar.

"Yes, and I want to get a better look at this enemy mage – but if he is what I think he is, all of the mages will need to be at full strength at the end. Especially us," said Taia. "I think he is using the battle in a feedback loop to keep them mage-controlled. It seems obvious he's a blood mage – otherwise there is no way he would have the power to control an army of this size, particularly without being noticed before now."

"So we need to whittle the army down to an acceptable size, so that his power source is reduced before attacking him directly, is that what you're thinking?" asked Whitestar.

"Yes, and then on the last day – do you remember that demon that killed Jareth so many years ago?" asked Taia.

"How could I forget?" asked Whitestar.

"Remember how I drained its power while attacking it at the same time? That's how I plan to take this mage out," said Taia. "But to do that, I'll have to have the incoming power source at a more manageable level than the army he's currently fielding can produce with their deaths. So – fight a conventional war until the army is whittled down, and hope ours can last long enough to get to that point. That's the long and short of the plan, but the details? I'm not sure on those yet."

"I don't have your mind for strategy," said Whitestar. "I will be in the Healer's tents after the battles doing everything I can to get the army to the finish line."

"Yes," said Taia. "And let us hope and pray to the Goddess that it's enough."

Over the next moon, they spent their days training recruits and organizing the combined armies into cohesive fighting divisions. They ran drills so that those divisions would become used to fighting together. Taia spent time getting to know her new generals, lieutenants, and captains; this was a larger army than she had ever commanded before, by far. It was made up of Jkathans, Hardornens, Karsites, Rethwellans, and Valdemarans, plus the delegations from Iftel, the Shin'a'in and the Tale'edras; they even had a few groups of survivors from Ruvan, Seejay and the Haighlei Empire who wanted the chance to take down the army that had destroyed their homelands. There were also several mercenary troupes among their number, including the Fire Eagles, Wind Riders and Skybolts. Taia had to learn their languages, and learn them quickly, just to communicate at all. Then there were the cultural problems; some of them had never had a female commander, and she had to be diplomatic and at the same time win their respect and their cooperation. She was glad to have the aid of several translators and ambassadors to aid her in this quest; it would have been a disaster if she had committed some sort of cultural faux pas that would destroy their alliance.

She particularly enjoyed the Iftel delegations. She had heard stories of ratha, the mountain-cat version of a kyree, but never seen one. Urtho certainly had enjoyed creating new species; there were the dyheli, the tervardi, and the hertasi that lived and worked with the Tale'edras; the kyree, the large wolf-like creatures that were as intelligent as humans and lived on the Dhorisha Plains and the ratha, which were to the mountain-cat what the kyree were to wolves. And of course, the gryphons. When the Kale'da'in arrived, their gryphons were near apoplectic to reunite with their long-lost cousins from Iftel. They traded stories for hours after they drilled together during the day; formidable fighters, the gryphons of both peoples were going to be a vital part of Taia's battle plan. If only she could figure out what, exactly, that plan would entail.

The delegations from the Shin'a'in and Tale'edras trickled in one Clan or Vale at a time, as did the mercenary troupes along the way that had been recruited to aid in the battle. The Fire Eagles, of course, were among those troupes and Taia enjoyed reuniting with Jexon, now the Captain. She was saddened to hear that Milna had been killed in battle two seasons prior. Miljek had retired, Goddess bless him, but was still there to serve as a fighter, just not an officer. They spent a solid evening trading tales and laughing over past glories. It was good to pretend for awhile that this was just another Fire Eagle contract, and they'd fight it and then go home.

A sennight before the enemy was expected to be in range for the battle, Taia gathered all the other military leaders for a strategy meeting. She was nervous; this would be the biggest test of her abilities as a strategist that she had ever faced. The chances of success were slim, and the consequences of failure were steep. She had called to the meeting the general commanders of each national army, plus a representative of the Tale'edras and the Shin'a'in. She had asked the mercenary troupes to get together and choose a representative for them all, and they had complied by sending the captain of the Red Thorns named Riken, a company out of Rethwellan with an excellent reputation.

"Greetings," Taia said, once they had all been settled and the pages had distributed hot kava for everyone to drink. "I'm sure you're all aware of why I've called you all here today. It's time to discuss strategy plans. First, does anyone have any ideas? I have a plan, but I am always open to suggestions."

"I know I can speak for the Hardornen soldiers when I say we're all ready to fight, but certain we're going to lose," said Tilleth, the Hardornen commander. There were nods around the table.

"I think we've all used basically the same strategies in our experience. Fake retreats, hidden traps in the ground, some of us have even copied your night attack tactics – but I don't see how any of that will save us here," said Riken.

Taia nodded. "Well, fake retreats aren't going to be terrifically useful here, given that we are, while smaller than the enemy army, too big to really pull it off as a whole army. We will do it as a matter of division, but not as an entire army. Pits in the ground – again, we are too large to effectively keep our own troops from falling victim. I am planning a night attack bunch, actually several; their army is so large we can have our night attack troops attacking from multiple directions and it will have the same effect as one group would on a normal army. I think the Tale'dras scouts are actually perfect for this type of attack, so Redfox, if you would see to that among the Tale'edras fighters that would be fantastic, and maybe the Shin'a'in too – except for the Kal'enedral. I want them in the field during the day. We will be creating earthquakes to divide their army periodically – but that takes a lot of mage energy, so we can't do it every day. Whitestar and myself will be diverting the enemy with illusions during the battle. The gryphons – Treyvan, I'm not surprised to see you as their representative – "

"I rrrepresssent not jussst the grryphonsss. I am alsso rrepressenting the kyree and the ratha," said Treyvan.

"Pardon me," said Taia. "I am not exactly certain how to utilize the kyree or the ratha. What input can you give me on their specialties?"

"I think they might be besssst used in the night attacksss. Essspecially the kyree," said Treyvan. "The ratha are more trained to fight in organized battless, sso if you will permit, I would like to ask them and report tomorrow?"

"That would be perfect," said Taia. "I almost wish I could be on the night attacks; can you imagine waking up to the sight of a kyree attacking in the middle of the night? That's the stuff nightmares are made of!"

Everyone laughed.

"I'm leaning towards having the night attack crew be virtually independent. That would mean they would need their own leader, to delegate who goes on which group, when and where the attacks take place – does anyone have a suggestion for who that could be?" she asked.

"Perhaps that question should wait until we identify exactly who will be part of that crew," said Redfox. "After all, if the ratha decide they wish to be night attackers, but we have already picked their leader without consulting them – that is not going to work."

"Excellent point, thank you," said Taia. "Let's meet here again tomorrow night, same time, after we've identified for sure who will be a part of the night attack crew. Come with suggestions for their leader. Also, we will be generally dividing the army into a center, right and left army; I would like to decide who should lead those segments as well. Preferably, they would be led by you, because you are already accustomed to leading armies."

They all nodded.

"I would like to lead one of the flanks," said Tilleth. "It seems that perhaps the center should divide into center, left- and right-center; that would give each of us a section to lead, and no one would feel passed over."

"Good," said Taia. "I like that. So. Evian of Jkatha, I suggest you lead the right flank, Tilleth you're on the left. That leaves Riel of Karse and Kirsch of Rethwellan – left and right center respectively? Does that work for everyone?"

They all nodded. "Who will lead the center group?" asked Riel. "If you're leading the army as a whole, I don't think it's fair for you to also lead a section. It's a lot of work for you, and there may be a perception of favoritism. I'm not accusing you of that, of course, but the perception will be there regardless."

"I completely agree, Riel. That is too much work! I was thinking I would ask Kerowyn for her services, does anyone object? She has, as you all know, experience leading an army and is a leader in Valdemar – which will head the center division – already. Does that please everyone?" Taia replied. Everyone nodded.

"Excellent. Mercenary troupes will be divided evenly, I think, to make all five sections as equal as possible. So Riken, I leave that up to you to assess the needs of each section and assign your troupes accordingly. Treyvan – the gryphons, well, they're the gryphons. They will fight like gryphons do, tremendously and ferociously and I leave you to determine their leadership. Any questions?" said Taia.

There were none.

"Good. Now, I know you all look at this enemy and think it's hopeless. But while I agree it's definitely difficult, I don't believe it's hopeless. I do have a plan, and I think we can succeed. It will take a lot of hard fighting and many of us will not return home – but I do believe there will be a home to return to, when it is all over."

"What about that mage?" asked Bellehue, the mage representative. He was Master class, but had a reputation for capable leadership. "Do you really think you can defeat that mage? I don't know anyone with the power to do what he's doing, I'm honestly doubtful that he can be defeated."

"Any mage can be defeated," said Taia, her voice just a little bit haunted. "Any mage. I have a plan to defeat him, as well. It may very well cost me my life, but I will defeat him, on that I pledge you my word."

She probably shouldn't have said that.

The next morning Taia had determined was the day she would build her shield. Everyone had arrived; she would be able to 'tag' the shield to everyone's lifeforce. But before she could begin, Andrien stalked up to her tent. She was clearly angry; Taia had no idea why. They had barely spoken since they arrived at the camp, everyone was far too busy preparing.

"Why have you assigned the Shin'a'in to the night attack crew?" Andrien began without preamble. "Are you trying to keep all the glory to yourself? Are you trying to keep me out of harm's way? What reason do you have to do this?"

Taia was shocked.

"First, no, I am not trying to keep you out of harm's way. There is no such thing, on a battlefield of any kind. If you truly prefer to fight during the day, you may ask one of the mercenary troupes to allow you to serve with them. Brandi and Jacqui are serving under the Fire Eagle's banner; they are former mercenaries and have been accepted," began Taia. "Second, there is no shame in ANY of the divisions, night or day, because there is no possibility of winning this war without every single sword here, or without every division and tactic we have available to us. The night attackers are at least as important to this venture as the 'regular' fighters; perhaps more so. And third, I am done trying to explain to you that war isn't about glory. It's about blood and death and pain and hoping every day is the last battle. It's about hoping that neither yourself nor any of the people you truly care about find themselves dead on that battlefield or screaming in pain in the Healer's tents – but you won't learn this until you've fought your first battle. So I'll save my breath. I chose the Shin'a'in to be on the night attackers group because they are skirmishers. Their numbers and their skills are better suited to the independence of the night attackers, but as I've said – if you truly don't wish to be a member of that group, go and speak to Riken. Now. Leave me be, I have work to do."

Taia stalked off past Andrien, who stood there speechless and at least had the decency to look a bit chagrined. Whitestar followed; she wouldn't be actively creating the shield, but she would be feeding Taia energy. When this was over, they were both going to be drained entirely; they had already arranged for Healers to carry them off to their tents when they inevitably collapsed. Firesong had been tasked with waiting for them so that he could feed them enough energy – at least Taia – that she could attend her strategy meeting that evening. They walked to the exact center of the camp; it wasn't necessary to be there, they could have done this from their own tent. But Taia thought it might help to visualize the shield if she sat in the center of it, and since this had never been tried before she thought she should use every tool she had. So they carried blankets and padding with them to where they would be. Taia had told Kerowyn of her plans the night before when she talked to her about leading the Valdemaran center army; just in case anyone felt the need to assassinate her, she wanted someone watching out for her. She couldn't think of anyone more suited to that job than her friend Kero.

They laid their blankets and padding on the ground and slipped their cloaks over their shoulders. The last thing they needed was to have more energy sapped out of them by becoming cold. They sat back-to-back on their blankets and closed their eyes. Whitestar linked to Taia effortlessly while Taia began to spin the shield into existence. She built shield over shield over shield, setting a spell that would set them to automatically regenerate if they were broken by pulling the energy from the life forces of the trees. She didn't want to run the risk of the army itself being destroyed by the enemy mage simply breaking the shield of the camp. To her knowledge no one had ever used the life forces of plant life to power magic, but she didn't know why it couldn't be done so she did it.

When the shield itself was in place, she was only beginning her work. She had created a shield that no one could enter without the shield 'recognizing' them; next she had to make it invisible to anyone walking past. That was a simple enough spell, so it didn't take very long. When she was done with that she had to tell the shield who to allow inside; that was difficult. She started, obviously, with herself and Whitestar; she progressed to their bondbirds, the horses – all the horses in the stable – and then she sent her mind 'looking' for the life forces of every member of the camp, from the lowliest cook to the leaders of the armies. She 'tagged' each one with a magical mark that the shield would "recognize" as belonging inside, so that they would be able to pass through without even knowing there was a shield in place; she wasn't sure what to do about the wildlife. She tried to 'tag' whatever birds and wildlife she found along the way, and that would have to be sufficient. She also tied the shield to use their life forces to regenerate itself as well, just in case.

Finally, she was done. She examined the shield for flaws meticulously, and fixed any she discovered. When it was finished, as predicted, they both collapsed. The Healers carried them bodily back to their tents and a page brought their blankets; Firesong was there waiting with willowbark tea. Goddess bless him. He was able to feed Taia enough energy that she was functional, if not at the top of her game; Whitestar only regained enough energy to drink her tea and eat a bit of bread.

"Thank you, Firesong," said Taia, slurring her words a little.

"My pleasure," he said. "That was some very creative shielding work, I shall have to remember your technique and improve upon it. I can't have you exceeding me in skill, after all!"

Taia laughed, but not hard; it hurt her head too much. "Feel free," she said. "You and An'desha, you think you will be able to create some earthquakes now and again to divide the enemy army? Like we talked about?"

"Oh, certainly," said Firesong. "We have recruited Darkwind, as well, and possibly Elspeth – she wants to fight in the field some days, as well. I don't understand this desire to throw oneself at a sword, but to each her own, I suppose. We will be alternating days, so that there should be one every day. When you have some time, we simply would like some instruction on exactly how you would like us to do this."

"Certainly," said Taia. "If you don't mind, I will be having meetings and drills and training sessions – Whitestar can tell you exactly what we have in mind, perhaps tomorrow while I'm at the strategy meeting?"

"Of course," said Firesong.

Taia went off to her strategy meeting. She was exhausted, and her head hurt so much from building the shield that she wasn't sure how much use she would be, but as Commander of the Joint Armies – that was the title they had chosen for her – she could hardly miss a meeting. So she went, and tried to have as clear a head as she could. She ate her piece of hot buttered bread on the way – they hadn't eaten since breakfast, and even though she was queasy from the headache, she knew she had to eat something.

"Greetings," she said when everyone had taken their seats and had their kava in front of them. "As you probably know, I spent the day building a shield around the camp. It is tied to each of you, and every member of this army including the horses, so that we can come and go as we please – but no one else can. It will protect us from the very night attacks we are hoping will help destroy the enemy – but, in the event of our defeat, it will also allow any survivors to retreat here and continue to live. Should that happen, any mage can tag new people to be allowed into the shield so that survivors from all our countries can hopefully escape here and the enemy will not have total victory."

"Why did you not simply build this shield over all of our nations and avoid this blasted war in the first place?" demanded Riel.

"A valid question," said Taia. "But one that is easy to answer. You may or not know that since the mage storms, the function of magic is not the same as it once was. Energy is not as prevalent for use. Whitestar and I spent every bit of energy available to us in building this shield today, and it is only by sheer force of will, actually – and the assistance of one Firesong k'Treva – that I am able to be present here tonight at all. Whitestar is at our tent collapsed and exhausted, and will not wake up until midday tomorrow at the earliest. When she does wake, she will have the terrific headache I am suffering through as we speak. There is simply not enough energy – and not enough mages with the ability – to build such a shield over entire countries. Only Iftel has such a shield; and it is god-created, not mage-created."

Ziftec nodded gravely. "She speaks truth," he said. "We did not create that shield; Vykaendys did. It would have to be He who created it for each of your countries; why He did not do so for Karse, only He knows."

"Now, since that is settled, let's move on to business since I honestly have very little energy tonight. Ziftec, your human fighters – where would you like them to be utilized?" she asked. Iftel was one of the delegations that preferred not to be fully subsumed by Taia's command.

"With respect, commander, we would like to join Tilleth's army. They are a bit smaller than the rest, no? If we join them, they become equal sized to Evian on the other flank. Then the mercenary troupes could be better utilized within the central armies, I believe," said Ziftec.

"I agree," said Taia. "Treyvan, what did the ratha decide? And are the kyree satisfied with their assignment?"

"Oh, yessss," said Treyvan. "The kyree were delighted. As for the ratha, they suggested an alternative. Instead of being integrated into the night attackers, they wish to form their own contingent and follow the initial attackers. Clean up, was the way they put it. So a double wave of night attackers, essentially."

"Excellent," said Taia. "Now, Kerowyn has agreed to lead the Valdemaran center group, as we discussed yesterday. Several of the Shin'a'in prefer to fight during the day rather than at night; they should be integrated into the mercenary troupes. Riken, please be available to assign them as you see fit. It would be better, I think, to assign them together according to Clan; they are used to fighting together in that fashion and they will likely perform better that way. Any questions?"

There were none. The meeting was dismissed, and Taia gratefully returned to her tent and her bed. Five days – five days to run final drills, finalize plans. And then the battle would begin. She was ready – and yet she hoped those five days would last forever.


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter thirty-three**

Those five days did not, in fact, last forever; instead they passed with lightning speed, as time often does when it's moving towards something horrible. The time was spent with drills, fine-tuning of strategy, and making more arrows, more swords, more knives. More wrappings for the handles. More armor, more armor for the horses, more second-guessing everything that had already been guessed. And then – the day had arrived. Taia and Whitestar rose before dawn and ate their breakfast of thick buttered bread, a slab of meat and a mug of hot kava. They pulled their linen shifts over their well-muscled and scarred skin by moonlight. They pulled their chainmail armor over that and helped each other fasten it and check for problems. Then they pulled their leather armor on and loaded the bootknives, the short swords, the throwing knives and the swords. They picked up the bands that carried the extra throwing knives and their bows and quivers and headed off to the stable.

Irix seemed to know something was happening; he was alert and antsy while the other horses were quiet in their stalls. Taia greeted him affectionately and brushed him down. She pulled on his armor and fastened it in place. She placed his riding blanket over his back and buckled his saddle. She slung the strap that held the extra knives over his withers and fastened it; she fastened the quivers stuffed with arrows across his rump. When she was through she checked on Whitestar, who was just finishing up doing the same with Diyah, a feisty dark grey mare out of Kyesh's line. They gave each other a long hug and kiss – and it was time to go.

The rest of the army was piling out of the stables and tents as well, moving towards their divisions' assigned locations not quickly, but with purpose. The archers carried their bows – usually at least two of them – and as many full quivers as they could hold. The infantry had as many blades strapped to them as Taia and Whitestar did, although most carried shields; most cavalry did, as well. The horse archers rode lightly armored, fast moving horses while the cavalry was evenly divided between heavy and light; the divisions were such that each had about the same number of each type of troop. It was evident that the green recruits were nervous and terrified; they kept looking at the veterans, trying to look excited instead. They were green enough to not realize that this was what gave them away as green. The veterans just looked determined. Taia made a point to smile at everyone she locked eyes with, but secretly – she was scared, too.

But she wasn't going to show it. She was not, in fact, a new recruit; she had decades of experience, and she was the Commander of this army. If they saw she was afraid, they were sunk before they set foot on the field. So she screwed up her courage, screwed on a smile and held her head up high. She took brusque, purposeful steps toward the battlefield and exuded confidence to the best of her ability. Before she knew she had even reached the battlefield itself, there she was at the front of it. Now came the part she really hadn't been looking forward to; time to rally the troops. She started by signaling her horse to rear and scream a battle charge, crow-hopping at the crowd in a mock attack, while Sera and Ryki dove and screamed their own challenge around them – which got the desired effect of getting the entire army to cheer and yell. When Irix lowered his hooves back to the ground, Taia was standing on his back, all without the crowd seeing her feet leave the stirrups. This particular trick had taken awhile to learn, but the effect was worth it – the cheer was deafening now. But she raised her arms for silence, and got it.

"We stand here today, on this field, to face that army," she began. "I know you're afraid. It's the biggest army any of us have ever seen. But we are forgetting something. They fight only because some mage forces them to – a mage who doesn't even have the integrity to fight with his own power, but uses their blood, and their pain, to make himself stronger. We fight – we fight because we are NOT slaves. Many of us will die in this war. But no matter what happens, we have already won. Because we stand here on this field, ready to face this army, not as six countries, not as separate Clans, not as mercenaries – but as one nation. One army. One people. For the survival of all of us, one people. And I say, that is victory. That army over there – it is already defeated. They just don't know it yet. And so with one body, one sword, one voice – CHARGE!"

And she turned Irix around to gallop with the army towards their foe. She fired her arrows as they ran, four at a time – and as usual, all but a very few found their mark. She threw her throwing knives to hit their targets – and then the battle had begun in earnest. She drew her swords from her back as she reached the enemy front lines and in the same motion met the first attacker coming to grapple with her. He went down easily. The battle raged – it felt like any other battle, really, that she had ever fought. It was really only different in scale; she had fought wars and been outnumbered many times before. All that mattered was getting the next attacker before they got her. Slash, stab, wheel around – it all disappeared in the blur of battle. She collected injuries, a laceration here, an arrow wound there – just like every other battle she'd ever fought.

And so the days went – just like any other war. Up before dawn, struggle into the armor, eat breakfast. Tend the horses, head to the battlefield – try to stay alive, try to keep as much of her own army alive as possible and as little of theirs. Afterwards, crawl back to camp, often literally, clean the wounds, Heal what they could, fix the weaponry and the armor. Devour as much food as physically possible on the way to the next strategy meeting to discuss progress, goals, and whether they were winning, losing or if it was still a draw. So far, Tyke was on hunting duty – not so much because he hadn't been fighting, but because he had a talon injury from battle that would allow him to hunt but hinder him on a battlefield. Diyah was off the field for at least a sennight with a hamstring injury, quite possibly permanently, Esen didn't make it. He had been caught by a pike from a soldier Taia hadn't quite killed in time.

As far as the army as a whole was doing, it was going better than anyone had reason to expect. The casualty count was enormous, but thanks to the Healers, theirs was mostly wounded while the enemy's was mostly dead. It seemed their enemy mage saw no purpose for healing his wounded soldiers; those that were too badly injured to fight the next day didn't, and many succumbed to blood loss or infection. There were enormous piles of corpses on the enemy side, and the smell was starting to be overpowering. Their camp Healers did what they could for captured enemies but the orders were strict; allied forces first. Taia didn't like giving that order; generally, it was the case that once they were captured, enemy and ally were treated equally. But they needed every sword on the field they could get, and they couldn't afford to lose one even for a day because the Healer had exhausted himself on a captive.

They had been fighting for about a fortnight. Taia expected the field battle to last a little over a moon before she would take on the mage in an all-out decisive battle; all she had to do was keep herself and Whitestar alive until then, as well as whittle the enemy army down to a manageable level that the power the enemy mage could continue to obtain from their deaths would not be more than Taia could drain away. It was a crazy balancing act, and most of it guesswork. Firesong and An'desha were doing well with the earthquakes and magical divisions of the enemy army; Darkwind joined them on occasion. Taia and Whitestar did not, but utilized various magical effects while swinging their swords – illusions, fireballs, lightning bolts, well-placed shuffling of the dirt in enemy faces – they were busy. But it was going well.

After about that first fortnight, the battle was raging like any other day. It was about midday. There was a roar about two horselengths away from where Taia was fighting; she looked up, and there was a man swinging a double-headed axe. She was working on getting through the current group of attackers in between her and this man when she saw Brandi go for him. Brandi swung her sword bravely at the axe to block it while she readied her second sword, but the first got caught in the handle – and the axe swung down. The other axe head hit her full in the stomach, right in between where her chest armor and leg guards met. Brandi went down immediately.

Taia didn't even recognize her own voice as she screamed and hit the axe man with a blistering lightning bolt, vaporized him on the spot – but too late. She Fetched Brandi back behind the line of battle and she and Whitestar fought their way back to where she lay. They jumped off their horses and ran to her side. The wound was too great – there was no way it could be Healed, but Whitestar tried anyway.

"I can't Heal her," she cried. "I can't. There are too many vessels bleeding, there isn't any way – maybe if the entire team of Healers were here, but I can't – I'm sorry, I can block the pain and give you a few moments – "

"It's enough," said Brandi. "It's enough."

"Brandi, you…..you're my hero, you know," said Taia. "I'd be dead many times over, everything I am I owe to you – "

"Nonsense," said Brandi. "You're my baby sister, you're tougher than all that," said Brandi. "You would have found your way. I'm so proud of you, so proud!"

Taia embraced her sister, sobbing. Andrien and Kiri had made their way over briefly and said their goodbyes, but the battle still raged – they needed to get back to it, and besides, they had never been close with Brandi. All that was left – was Jacqui. Taia got up and let her have some privacy – as much as she could have, with Whitestar there pouring energy in to keep Brandi alive and coherent long enough….it could never be long enough. But she kept it up for as long as she had energy to pour, and used Taia's too. Brandi died on the field that day, peacefully and pain-free, in the arms of the wife she loved and surrounded by her sisters.

Taia fought the rest of that day in a blur. She would have loved the luxury of retreating to her tent to sob for the rest of the day, at least, maybe the next moon; but she was the Commander of this army. She was also at least among the best fighters in the army, if not the best fighter outright; and they needed every sword they had and particularly the good ones. War doesn't take a day off because someone's sister dies; every soldier on the field was someone's sister or brother. She was told later that she fought in a fury, her swords nearly flying around in her hands at one attacker after another. From the way her shoulders felt that evening, she believed it.

That evening after the usual cleaning her wounds and those of her horse and bondbirds, after the weapons had been cleaned and repaired, after the armor was inspected and cleaned, Taia dismissed the strategy meeting. There wasn't any new strategy to discuss; they reviewed their casualty numbers and their estimates of the enemy losses. They reviewed their progress and how much longer they thought they would have to keep this up, but there was no further discussion. It was simply a listing of numbers; not the usual discussion of individual divisions' specific numbers, no review of any particular area of the days' battle. Taia felt a little guilty, but she just couldn't focus on any of it that night. Afterwards she went to see how Jacqui was doing; she wasn't sure what she was going to say, but she didn't want Jacqui to be entirely alone, either. So she walked up to Jacqui's tent and scratched at the opening; the Shin'a'in equivalent of a knock on a door.

"Come in," came a hoarse voice. Taia did so and sat on one of the open cushions.

"I don't know what to say," said Taia, unable to even look Jacqui in the eye. "I just didn't want you to be alone."

"I thank you for that," said Jacqui. "I don't know that I will ever not feel alone again, though."

"I can imagine," said Taia. "Or rather, I really can't, and I honestly don't want to. But….I want you to know, you're as much my sister as Brandi was. And I want you to feel you can call on me, if you need something, anything."

"Thank you, Taia. I don't have any family – just my Clan," said Jacqui.

"You are welcome in Valdemar whenever you like, and for as long as you like," said Taia. "Have….have you thought about a ceremony?"

"You mean funeral?" asked Jacqui. "We're in the middle of a war, Taia, what kind of funeral could she get?"

"One of the benefits of being the Commander of this army," said Taia. "I get to abuse my position a little. We burn our dead nightly – mostly in groups according to division, the officers sometimes separately. But Brandi was my sister. She will have her own pyre, and perhaps the only people gathered will be her family. But we will gather. If….if you want, that is. I don't mean to take over."

"I think that would be lovely," said Jacqui. "Thank you. I guess it might be a handy thing to know the Commander of the Allied Armies!"

Taia rolled her eyes. "I have no idea why anyone thought I was the best person for this job, and I'm sorry I couldn't get to Brandi fast enough. I…..don't know how to forgive myself for that."

"You are the only person who could do this job," said Jacqui. "And if you had gotten there before Brandi, the only thing different would have been he would likely have killed you instead, and then Whitestar would follow – and then who would take on that mage? It wasn't your fault. It's war. We came here knowing there was a good chance neither of us would go home. We just hoped it would be both of us, or neither."

"Maybe if I'd hit him with a lightning bolt sooner….instead of trying to get there with my sword – " Taia began.

"Stop," said Jacqui. "You were on a battlefield. You were already casting illusion spells and Fetching and probably some other things, right? Not to mention you were already defending yourself against, what, six? Seven other attackers? It's war, Taia. People die in war, you know that. It's not your fault."

"It's hard not to feel like every single person who dies on that field is my fault," said Taia. "But especially Brandi."

"I know," said Jacqui. "I was supposed to have her back, you know. I was supposed to be guarding her. But she went riding off like a damned fool to take on that axeman, like we were twenty years younger in the mercenary troupe again – and I got stuck. If we're going to blame someone, blame me. I was her wife. I was supposed to be protecting her."

"But it's not your fault! She went to take on that axeman, he was going to do a lot of damage to our soldiers - " said Taia, and she saw Jacqui smile.

"See?" said Jacqui. "It's not my fault. It's not your fault. It's just war. She died being who she was – someone who wasn't afraid. Someone was willing to put herself on the line in order to save other people. We have to take comfort in that, Taia. Now. Let's talk about this ceremony. What did you have in mind?"

"Well, she was Shin'a'in," said Taia. "So obviously, a Shin'a'in ceremony, right? Or is there something else you wanted to do?"

"No, no, I was expecting no ceremony, but definitely a Shin'a'in one," said Jacqui.

"I was wondering….if you would mind if I did a little illusion work on the fire? I thought I would make it a picture of her life. Kind of show who she was," said Taia.

Jacqui smiled. "That would be lovely, I think she would approve. Tomorrow night, then?"

"Yes," said Taia. "I should be able to get through the strategy meeting quickly again, like tonight."

"Good," said Jacqui. "Now give me a hug. Whether or not we're still grieving, the war goes on tomorrow, and we need our sleep. I'll see you tomorrow, Taia. And thank you."

Taia gave Jacqui a hug goodnight and returned to her own tent. She passed word through the pages to her sisters as well as Wolf Clan that there would be a ceremony for Brandi the following evening. Other nights, each Clan had had their own ceremonies for fallen members, but it was usually more of a group ceremony – not individual. She hoped no one would feel terribly wronged that she was honoring her sister in this way, but she couldn't help it; she didn't feel right about a general ceremony for Brandi. She just couldn't do it. She walked into her tent and Whitestar was waiting for her. They cried a little together, then curled up to sleep in each other's arms; the next day would be a long and hard one.

The next day's battle was uneventful. Taia estimated that they had cut the enemy army down by half, while her own army had lost only about a third. They were still outnumbered, but not by such an extreme ratio. Taia told the other leaders that if things continued the way they were going, she would be ready to take on the enemy mage in about another moon. It was a little longer than she had originally estimated, but as the Shin'a'in saying went, battle plans seldom survive past the first engagement with the enemy.

Afterwards, she went to the back edge of the camp, just outside the shield. This was where Brandi's ceremony was to take place. Her sisters were both there, as well as Jacqui and Whitestar and a few odd members of Wolf Clan who were not at the Clan ceremony. They greeted each other with hugs and words of comfort. Brandi had been painstakingly cleaned, stitched and dressed in her finest leathers. Her body was laid out on a funeral pyre in the Shin'a'in style, albeit small; they were using a lot of the trees in this area for campfires and burning the dead, they didn't want to strip it bare. The mourners, as well, came dressed in the best they had available at a battle encampment. Kiri was dressed in her full jet-black Kal'enedral leathers; Andrien and Jacqui were wearing their best Shin'a'in leathers. Taia wore Shin'a'in leathers as well, but with a Tale'edras cut to them; Whitestar wore black and grey Tale'edras mage robes. It was time to begin.

They each had torches, which they took turns using to light the pyre, which had been doused with oil to help it burn more easily. When the flames were high enough, Taia extended her mind, partly mage gift, partly Fetching – no one had ever tried to Fetch flames before, as far as she knew, but that didn't mean it couldn't be done – and began to twist the flames into images. Kiri began to sing the traditional Shin'a'in funeral song, a song that was a low pitch and minor key; Andrien joined in with the harmony. Taia began her images with children, young girls playing in a field, then riding their horses at full gallop. She progressed to the image of Brandi leaving the Clan and meeting Jacqui; she made the two flame-images embrace and dance together, then ride off to be larger-than-life members of an army. The two images then continued dancing back to the Plains, where they settled in a tent and Taia showed them eating over a campfire. The image that was 'Brandi' – they weren't real images, just shapes made of flame – got up and rode off to another Clan, where she argued with people and then scooped up a smaller image – Taia – and rode off to a Vale, rescuing her. The images swirled together for a moment with shapes of horses and domesticity in the mix; Brandi then was shown as a rescuer, along with Jacqui and Whitestar of an immobile Taia in a dungeon. More domestic images – and then Taia recreated images of the current war, with Brandi riding triumphantly towards the axeman and falling from her horse. As the image of Brandi fell from the horse, the flames fell and the burning was complete. She and Whitestar created a wind to softly blow the ashes back towards the Plains, and the ceremony was complete. Brandi was with the Star-Eyed. And the rest of them would just have to keep moving along without her.


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter thirty-four**

The remainder of the war went as Taia expected. Another of their mounts fell victim to a pike – Yrslen – and Mikeh suffered a permanent injury, much like Myk and Ishim, that would render him unridable in battle but perfectly serviceable as a stud. On a hot and muggy evening – Taia told her leadership that the time had come.

"The enemy has lost enough troops," said Taia. "I will begin my mage attack the day after tomorrow. I will need tomorrow to regain some of my strength, so I will not be on the field with the rest of you."

"Why do you need to regain your strength? You have gone back and forth one day to the next from the field to the mage corps with out a day off, why not engage him tomorrow and be done with it?" asked Riel.

"Because this is not an ordinary mage battle," said Taia. "Field battle takes a lot of energy out of me – and whether or not you've noticed, I have also been using my Gifts on the field. Illusions take energy, fireballs and lightning bolts – they take energy. If I am going to defeat this mage, I absolutely must be at full strength; there are no nodes left to pull on. I cannot use energy other than my own, and Whitestar's. He will still have access to the energies from the soldiers on the field; I will not."

"Would it really be such a terrible thing to use them? They will be dying anyway, why not use it to our advantage?" aske Riel.

"Because it is disgusting," answered Bellehue. "No mage you ever want on your side would use such energy, it corrupts. We are not fighting this battle so we can become our enemy."

"Well said, Bellehue," said Taia. "The only life force energy I will ever use is my own, and that of my lifebonded. I will not use the energy from the soldiers' deaths on the field. If you cannot be satisfied with what I give you, then find another. I will not."

Riel was silent. He had the decency to look chagrined.

The meeting came to an end. Taia walked back to her tent. Since she would not be fighting tomorrow, and neither would Whitestar – they had a free evening. They spent it walking around the camp, speaking with those soldiers they knew, encouraging the ones they didn't. They had dinner with Jacqui, Kiri and Andrien. They took the horses out for a short ride. They went back to their tent – and didn't sleep for a long while. They did sleep late in the morning, and by the time they woke the battle was already raging. It felt strange to be sleeping, lounging about while the soldiers were on the field bleeding and dying; but Taia knew it was necessary, if she wanted to have a chance at beating this enemy mage. They spent the day riding the horses in the opposite direction of the battlefield, just being together, with each other and their birds. For a moment they could pretend they were back at the Vale, taking off for one of their weekends away when they were young. They packed a picnic lunch, made love under a tree – and before they knew it, it was time to return to camp. The next day would hold quite possibly the greatest challenge of either of their lives.

They returned to camp, and again had dinner with Jacqui, Kiri, and Andrien. They said what may or may not be their last goodbyes and went back to their own tent. Whitestar spelled them into sleep; neither wanted to have a restless night due to nerves, and then go face the enemy mage while already tired. Taia had used Farsight the day before to determine exactly where this mage was and where the best place was for her to attack from; they would get up with the army, but instead of going to the field they would progress to that location. They had requested that Firesong, at least, accompany them, both to defend them while they were in battle against the mage – and to take over, should they fail.

Because of the spell, both slept well. They woke with the army and instead of piling on armor, they dressed in their Tale'edras mage robes. They needed to feel like mages today, not swordfighters. And armor wouldn't do much against a mage battle, anyway. They had a more hearty breakfast than most mornings in the hopes that it would give them just that much advantage in energy – and it was time to go. They mounted their horses – they didn't need them for fighting, but both expected to be unable to walk afterwards. Also, they couldn't afford to have even the smallest bit of energy sapped from a cold ground; the horses would keep them warm. They tied themselves to the saddles so that the horses would be able to carry them back to camp without them falling off, even unconscious as they expected to be. They rode to the designated spot, a small clearing with a stream nearby in the shade. It would not do to overheat. And Firesong would be able to bring them water, even, maybe.

They were in position. The birds perched nearby to keep watch. Firesong was sitting on a blanket nearby watching, waiting; he was keeping a magical eye out as well as a physical one. It was always possible there were other mages in the area just trying to take advantage of the fact that Taia and Whitestar were very much distracted, and would be easy victims to an unexpected assassin; it wouldn't matter how it was done, or in what circumstances. In some circles, the individual who killed a pair as notorious as Taia and Whitestar would gain instant respect, albeit not from a respectable crowd; but then, anyone who would assassinate them and thereby allow the enemy mage to succeed wouldn't be of a respectable type.

Taia and Whitestar linked so that Whitestar could feed Taia energy without Taia having to expend the energy to tame it. Whitestar also had the job of collecting as much ambient energy as possible, taming it, and feeding it to Taia. Taia's sole responsibility was to attack and defeat the enemy mage, as if that wasn't responsibility enough. She settled herself in her saddle, took a deep breath – and closed her eyes.

She traded attacks with the enemy mage for several candlemarks. She wasn't entirely sure how long it had been, but she knew she had bitten off more than she could chew. She didn't see how she was going to defeat this mage without executing Final Strike – and she wasn't even sure that would do it. Every attack she sent, he countered; and she didn't seem to be making any progress draining his energy, no matter how much she pulled away. She had started utilizing the energy she drained to fuel her own shields, but even that wasn't proving to be enough. She fired lightning bolt after lightning bolt at him, but they didn't seem to have any effect. She sent fireballs, illusions, even called a wyrsa, to no effect. Meanwhile, her shields were failing. She was starting to have actual wounds from this battle, and she wasn't sure how many more she could withstand. The other mages from the mage corps were supposed to be attacking the mages supporting the one she was attacking; but it was always possible they had been defeated, she had no way of knowing for certain.

She fought on, grimly. She knew that if she failed, everything she knew and loved would be destroyed. The army may very well defeat the physical army in front of them, but the mage would just raise another. Perhaps not from the south, the population there was decimated; but there was always the Eastern Empire. Why he hadn't started there in the first place, Taia didn't know. The Eastern Empire already wanted to conquer as much as it possibly could, and in particular Valdemar; this mage could have had willing participants, not needed to waste his energy controlling them.

She tried a new tactic, now; instead of directly attacking the mage, she looked for the lines from which the other mages were supporting him. Surprisingly, she found very few; the mage corps had been successful. She groaned, inwardly; the fact that they had been successful, and she was still failing, meant that she had grossly underestimated the amount of power this mage had available to him. Either that, or she had grossly overestimated her own; she wasn't sure which. And it didn't matter; in the end, the result was the same.

Finally, and at long last – she noticed an appreciable difference in the mage's strength. She was finally making progress. His attacks were no longer doing as much damage to her shields, and her efforts to drain his energy were bearing fruit. The battle on the field must be wearing down, she thought. Unfortunately, she was nearly to her end as well. Whitestar had fed her every bit of energy she had, and every bit she could find; they were both digging from the dregs. Despite the fact that they were finally making progress, they were still going to fail. They didn't have the energy to keep it up long enough to defeat him. Even a Final Strike at this point would not do it, although it might be close.

No. No, she did not come this far to fail. She did not bring this army, from six countries and two tribal peoples, from mercenaries even – she did not bring them here to fail now. Not when she was so close. She fired lightning bolt after lightning bolt, drained his energy for all she was worth – but she slumped in her saddle, and knew she would not succeed without a new infusion of energy.

Firesong. Firesong was there, and he was fresh. She felt Whitestar understand her plea; she felt Whitestar beg Firesong for his help, and she felt Firesong link his energy to Whitestar's. Fresh, clean power surged through her – and if she survived this, the reaction headache she was bound to have would likely make her wish she hadn't. But with Firesong's energy, it might just be enough – and so she kept fighting. Kept sending lightning bolts, fireballs, illusions, kept draining his energy, as much and as fast as she dared – too fast, too much, and he'd notice and break the spell, it wasn't a hard one to break – and realized with despair that it was STILL not going to be enough. She was preparing herself for a Final Strike, saying her goodbyes to Whitestar and preparing to cut the link to Firesong – when she felt yet a new infusion of energy.

Where - ? It was Darkwind, Elspeth and An'desha, together. Firesong had sensed Taia's waning energy and sent his Gifts out to link with theirs, despite the distance – and it had worked. They had worked together so closely and for so long that the distance didn't make much difference. This would do it. This would be enough. She hadn't wanted to ask them to come originally, because she thought they could do more good on the field – but now she was so grateful that they still had energy to spare. She fought on, lightning bolts, fireballs, illusions, even another wyrsa, drained for all she was worth, and finally – finally, it was over.

The other mage was dead. She had drained him to the point where his body dissolved into a puddle, there was no more energy to even hold his physical being together. Unfortunately, Taia also had no more energy – and it was a good thing they had tied themselves to their horses, as both Taia and Whitestar collapsed, entirely unconscious, with not even enough energy left to sustain their illusions. Firesong, too, was lying on the ground, although he was conscious. Darkwind, Elspeth and An'desha – too depleted to come and help them, although Elspeth's Companion Gwena was able to send the Healers to come for them and lead the horses back to camp.

The war was over. They had won.

Taia lay unconscious in the Healer's tent for almost a fortnight. The Healers were starting to wonder if she had depleted herself so completely that she would never wake; but Whitestar, who had awakened after five days, said she would. The lifebond was still strong. The birds showed no sign of distress. Taia would wake. It was just going to take time.

The rest of the army had packed up and started the long trip home. It was decimated; a full three-quarters of the army was lost. Many were not dead, but would never fight again; most of those had lost limbs or eyes. It would take more than one generation to rebuild what had been lost. Still, they had won. They had defeated the enemy mage, they had defeated his army and they had won. They would have those generations. The Tale'edras returned to their Vales and the Shin'a'in returned to their Plains. Andrien decided to become an Elder in her Clan and work to repair the damage done by her own mother and the shaman. An'desha had begun the work, but an entire generation had been raised in ignorance and against the traditions of their own people; she would help to fix that.

The bodies of the dead had been burned. The camp had been cleaned and returned as much as possible to the state it had been in before they had arrived; they could not untrample the grass or regrow the trees, but they could see that the seeds for new trees were planted. They could see that the ashes from the funeral pyres were used to fertilize the land that had been destroyed. They could use the animal mindspeakers to find and encourage herds from other areas to migrate here and reproduce, in order to repopulate the area from the animals that had been hunted to feed the army. And they did these things. It would still take several generations to restore the damage; but it would, in fact, be restored.

There had been some discussion on what to do about the countries that had been wiped out by the mage before the allies had arrived; Seejay, Ruvan, the Haighlei Empire – none of them survived to any degree of sustainability. The rulers of Valdemar, Karse and Rethwellan sent ambassadors to what was left of those countries to inquire as to what might be done; it was decided that any family who chose to relocate would be allowed to become citizens of whatever country they settled in. They would be provided with housing and two years free of taxes to see that they were properly settled; there were quite a few takers, particularly among the poor in the more populated cities of the offering countries.

One morning, Whitestar was sitting around the firepit with Firesong, Jacqui and Kiri; they were all that had stayed behind when the army left in order to wait for Taia to wake. They were laughing, telling stories of their childhoods, long-ago fought battles – and there was Taia standing in the doorway of the tent, her long white hair flowing loose around her pale, scarred face. She had lost so much weight it appeared that a slight breeze might topple her. But she was standing, she was awake, and her eyes were bright.

"Well, good morning," said Kiri.

"Hello," said Taia, her voice still weak and scratchy. "How long was I out?"

"A fortnight," said Whitestar. Taia was shocked. "The Healers gave up on you."

"I don't blame them," said Firesong. "I would have given up on you, too, had I been them – you don't look any better now, in fact, and I'm convinced you are a ghost."

"You would know what a ghost looks like, after all," joked Taia. It was well known that Firesong had seen his – and Whitestar's – long-dead ancestor Vanyel Ashkevron in the Forest of Sorrows some years back. Even as spirits, some of those Heralds couldn't stop sacrificing themselves for Valdemar.

"Yes, well, I just wasn't ready for that long ride home," said Jacqui. "Also, I wasn't sure I wanted to go. I might just take you up on living in Valdemar, at least for awhile."

"You are welcome to do so," smiled Taia. "How soon can we be on the road, oh Healer-mine?"

"Not until you have enough energy to put your illusion up," said Whitestar.

"Tired of this ghoulish face already, are we?" teased Taia.

"No," said Whitestar. "But when you have enough energy to maintain the illusion, I'll know you're fit to ride. Now. You've been asleep for a fortnight. Eat."

So Taia dutifully drank the broth offered to her along with the small – very small – pieces of dry bread. It was all her stomach would handle, after being empty for so long. It would be a long recovery. But she would recover.

And then - then she would get back to work. There were new mages and new warriors to train.


End file.
